A Powerful Motivational Video For Teens

by TeachThought Staff

Motivation is one of the great mysteries of humankind. Why do we want what we want?

We even study it in literature–character motivation. What does this character want, and what do they have to overcome to get it?

The answer is never simple. Even a reductionist take says that there are primary and secondary motivations–and thus often primary and secondary conflicts in any story.

See also How To Motivate Students That Struggle

Student motivation goes into even deeper waters: What motivates this student to “succeed” in school? Is it intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation? Does it ebb and flow? Is it perishable altogether?

And does success mean different things for different students? Good grades? Reaching a new personal best? Reconfiguring their self-identity as a learner and as a student? Simply showing up every day for a week?

The video above distills the idea of motivation into something elemental. If you’re motivated by things or events or glory, you’re not motivated at all because that’s not motivation. You’re not really motivated to achieve something until you want it as bad as you want your next breath. And every decision you make directly impacts that achievement–whatever that achievement is for that student. When you say you want something, and then act in a way that indicates otherwise, that’s revealing.

That’s not even “bad” necessarily. It clarifies things for you, because it’s clear you don’t really want it. You just want to say you want it. You just like to talk about goals. You like the way it feels to feign ambition. If you can’t make progress, you find things to blame.

But the truth is something simpler: Until you can’t be deterred, you don’t really want it.

Note, there is a whole bunch of shirtless-dude in this video, so consider your audience accordingly. It uses a football player training as a backdrop for the message, so it probably wouldn’t appeal much to younger children, or maybe even to you as a teacher.

But for teens–especially males–it may just get their attention.

A Very, Very Powerful Motivational Video For Teens