On Monday, I met with my students from last semester and chatted a bit. Two issues came up.
The first one is their confession that they are unmotivated this term – to whom I would refer to “Incentive to Learn” posting, which may not change their motivations, but I hope would make them think twice and realize that education is a shared responsibility.
The second issue has to do with what I would refer to as the drive to excel. Because of lack in time they have for designing, they mentioned that many of them ended up doing it just for the sake of completing the assignment (and get it over with). One of them unconsciously ended up with similar detail, although her intention was different.
Both issues make me think about what makes people tick. What makes (some) people have the drive to excel? What makes (some) people try to push themselves further and better (when it is probably easier to repeat after their own or even after other people’s successes without anyone else ever find out) despite the fact that perhaps few people other than themselves would notice any difference or even progress? What makes (some) people try to be ethical and do 'good work'?
I thought the answer has to do with an article I co-wrote a while back: Drive to Excel. But perhaps there is more to this.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Seperti biasa bu...Maafkan saya karena saya post dalam bahasa Indonesia...
Belakangan, sebenarnya saya memikirkan lagi masalah "motivasi" itu....
Dan jujurnya memang tidak banyak yang saya temui...
Tapi setelah beberapa waktu... saya sekarang punya "sesuatu" untuk saya jadikan "motivasi"...
Sesuatu yang namanya "harapan"... Mungkin kesannya masih klise banget dan masih terasa amat "unreal" bagi sebagian orang... tapi sekarang "harapan" itulah yang jadi "motivasi" saya... harapan bahwa saya bisa menjadi manusia yang lebih baik... harapan bahwa dengan arsitektur saya bisa berbagi dengan sesama saya dan membuat eksistensi saya bermakna...
Dan mungkin "motivasi" itu sekarang tumbuh dalam wujud yang bernama "will" dalam diri saya...karena "will" saya untuk menjaga "harapan" itu...
Mungkin terlalu berbelit-belit... tapi itulah yang sekarang saya pikirkan bu...
Jadi ingat Christopher Alexander... Dia bisa menutup jurusan arsitektur untuk S2 Harvard (kalau saya tidak salah) dengan tesisnya... dan tesisnya bisa dikatakan "ultimate" pada masanya...namun ternyata sekarang dia bisa membuat yang lebih baik lagi (Timeless Way of the Building)...Saya jadi terpikir, darimana dia bisa dapat motivasi itu? saya jadi berpendapat kalau motivasi itu tumbuh dalam kerendahan hati... karena kita percaya ada sesuatu yang lebih baik lagi dan sebenarnya segala sesuatu bisa lebih baik lagi... dan sikap itu yang sebenarnya sedang saya coba tumbuhkan untuk menjadi "motivasi" saya...
Terima kasih atas pencerahannya ya bu...
Salam...
Ray,
Posting dalam Bahasa Inggris di blog ini lebih karena saya lebih terbiasa dan lebih nyaman menulis dalam Bahasa Inggris, selain karena Bahasa Indonesia saya kurang baik. Jadi sama sekali tidak masalah kalau mau berkomentar dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Yang penting bisa berkomunikasi :)
Saya rasa harapan adalah suatu awal yang bagus. Orang yang punya harapan paling tidak punya bayangan akan masa depan, dan berkeyakinan bahwa masa depan itu adalah sesuatu yang lebih baik dari yang sekarang.
Yang sedang saya pertanyakan adalah harapan, keinginan untuk menjadi lebih baik, keyakinan bahwa masih banyak yang bisa diperbaiki – semua itu dipengaruhi oleh apa dan muncul darimana? Apakah ‘sudah dari sononya’ memang begitu? Apakah karena pengaruh lingkungan dan orang tua? Apakah karena seseorang memutuskan untuk bersikap positif dan optimis, dan keputusan itu sudah cukup untuk merubah pandangan hidupnya?
wow, i think it's a very interesting topic to be talked about :) i hope u two won't mind if i give my opinion about it :)
i think, i will be agree with ray.. that hope is one thing that we can keep in our heart to be our eternal motivation.. my question is, if we choose to keep hope, will it mean we choose to be 'positive thinking'?? i have just learnt that human has 4 basic personality. 2 of them influence us to be pessimistic.. maybe it can fairly explain, why there are optimistic and pessimistic persons :) i wonder what if u just that pessimistic-type.. it will be very very very hard to be optimistic. and, other question will be, is being optimistic the only way to success?? i can figure out the answers yet :p
i think, (at least in my case :p) that hope (or motivation??) to go further n better comes from our competitive instincts. this kind of instinct should be possessed by everyone.. but, the 'it-thing' that differs the winner n the loser is, i think, the will n trust to keep that instinct alive n work on you.. many people failed because they just don't have enough self-confidence to be as what they should be (competitive, creative, success??). at this point, i want to believe that everybody is just the same, we all have the same potentials and chances.. if success is measured by how far you can stand out from the crowd, maybe, the answer is, how many chances you take during your life :)
I don’t think being optimistic is the only way to succeed. My dad, for example, is a person who would not hope for anything to happen in the future. He only believes in present: do your best now and the future will take care of itself. He thinks that it is better to think negatively, because as such he could prepare himself for the worst.
My mom, on the other hand, always tries to look at things positively – which according to my dad is simply a way of keeping one’s belief high. He warns that being positive all the time could make one becomes indolent, unrealistic, and even more vulnerable towards the failures and mishaps in life.
Although he often thinks negatively, he is one of the strongest, fearless, most highly-spirited persons I’ve ever met. So I don’t think being optimistic guarantees positive traits in a person. And as such, I just contradict myself again ;)
haha. thank you. it helps me a lot. nearly all of my frens think that one must be positive thinking in perceiving things happen in your life, and as one of the negative thinkers :p i just can't help myself questioning the truth :p if i may ask, what do you contradict with?
Here's the point of contradiction: As a teacher, I'm 'supposed' to encourage people (in this case my students) to think positively, to be motivated, to have hopes, to be optimistic, etc.
But the fact is, sometimes by looking at things from negative point of view, we could gain something positive. The facts are not so black and white and often are contradicting.
I guess what's more important is how all those attitude and thoughts, being positive or negative, translate into actions. Right? ;)
Post a Comment