Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success : A Self-management Approach

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294 APPENDIX A

need to take to make sure you set a specific, measurable, action-

oriented, realistic, and timely (SMART) goal (Smith, 1994). Once you

establish a SMART long-tem goal, you need to set a SMART inter-

mediate goal related to your self-management problem. For example,

if your problem is that “you only sometimes remember the informa-

tion you studied in your biology course” and, as a result, have low

quiz and exam scores (i.e., Cs or below), you may wish to set a

SMART intermediate goal such as: earning at least a B on the rest of

your quizzes and exams this semester. Your long-term and intermedi-

ate goals will provide the direction for what you hope to accomplish

in your self-study.

Once you establish your SMART long-term and intermediate goals,

you will need to identify strategies to help you reduce or eliminate

your problem and reach your goal(s). Table A.4 provides a list of the

strategies found in each chapter. To reduce or eliminate your prob-

lem, you will need to select a strategy (or set of strategies) that you

know you will feel comfortable using. For example, one solution (or

strategy) may be sufficient for solving certain problems, whereas other

problems may require the use of many strategies. For instance, if your

problem is that you only sometimes remember the information you

studied in your biology course, you may need to choose strategies to

improve your motivation, time management, and social and physical

environment in addition to your methods of learning. The strategies

you choose should be based on the factors that you found were con-

tributing to your problem in the self-observation and evaluation stage

of your study.

TABLE A.4

STRATEGIES TO SOLVE ACADEMIC PROBLEMS

Components

of Academic Strategies Chapter

Behavior

Motivation

Goal-setting Align values, goals, and daily tasks 4

Set long-term and short-term SMART goals 4

Self-rewards Arrange or imagine rewards for positive 3

behaviors or successes, for example: “If I do

well on my homework, I will treat myself to

my favorite TV show.”

Arrange or imagine punishments for negative

behaviors or failures, for example:

“If I don’t do well on my homework, I won’t

be able to watch my favorite TV show.”