Assignment, Week 1
What Are Your Motivations?
Name: ______________________________
Section: ___________________
This assignment is about understanding your motivations for coming to the university and what drives you to accomplish milestones in your life. Your goals and motivations are driven by your underlying values—the reasons you desire to achieve certain things. Values inform our thoughts, words, and actions, and they help us to grow, develop, and envision and create the future we want to experience.
Assignment Part 1: The first step in better understanding your values is by writing three to five goals for yourself in the table below. These could be personal or professional goals, and they could be short-term or long-term goals. You should aim to make them SMART goals.
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Your Goals |
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Goal 1: Example: Finish my undergraduate degree in Marketing by December 2022. |
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Goal 2: |
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Goal 3: |
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Goal 4: |
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Goal 5: |
Assignment Part 2: Once you’ve established your goals, think about what is motivating you to achieve those specific goals. Is it to get to a certain level in your career? Is it to achieve something you’ve always wanted to for personal reasons? Is it to set a good example for your family or friends?
The second piece of this assignment is to establish two or three motivations for each goal you’ve identified and write these in the table below. Copy your goals into the area below from part 1 of the assignment.
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Your Motivations |
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Goal 1: Finish my undergraduate degree in Marketing by December 2022 |
Motivations: Promotion at work; higher salary; accomplishment |
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Goal 2: Copy Goal 2 from part 1 |
Motivations: |
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Goal 3: Copy Goal 3 from part 1 |
Motivations: |
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Goal 4: Copy Goal 4 from part 1 |
Motivations: |
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Goal 5: Copy Goal 5 from part 1 |
Motivations: |
Your motivation for doing anything generally stems from your values. Motivating forces could be values instilled in you from a young age, or values you hold because of what you’ve learned or been exposed to. Your core values are those that drive your behaviors, actions, and words. They are the reasons we dedicate our time and energy to most things in our lives. They are our guiding principles.
Assignment Part 3: Now that you’ve established goals and acknowledged your motivations, consider what motivates you, and write the underlying reason for each goal. These are your values. There could be one or several values for each goal that you have, and the values might be the same or similar for different goals. In the table below, copy your goals from part 1 of the assignment and enter your values.
There are no wrong answers for this exercise. The purpose is to establish your values and to recognize what drives you to accomplish milestones in your life.
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Your Values |
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Goal 1: Finish my undergraduate degree in Marketing by December 2022 |
Values: Integrity and work ethic; reaching my potential through education |
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Goal 2: Copy Goal 2 from part 1 |
Values: |
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Goal 3: Copy Goal 3 from part 1 |
Values: |
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Goal 4: Copy Goal 4 from part 1 |
Values: |
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Goal 5: Copy Goal 5 from part 1 |
Values: |
Assignment Part 4: Now that you’ve established goals, acknowledged your motivations, and reflected on your values, it’s time to consider how to go about achieving your goals. There are likely several steps you’d need to take in order to reach your ultimate goals, but writing down the first step that you can (and will) take can help you to form a plan of action.
For each of your goals, list the next step you plan to take in order to achieve it.
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Your Action Steps |
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Goal 1: Finish my undergraduate degree in Marketing by December 2022 |
Next Step: Register for my first major class next semester. |
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Goal 2: Copy Goal 2 from part 1 |
Next Step: |
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Goal 3: Copy Goal 3 from part 1 |
Next Step: |
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Goal 4: Copy Goal 4 from part 1 |
Next Step: |
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Goal 5: Copy Goal 5 from part 1 |
Next Step: |
Assignment Part 5: Write a sentence or two about what you learned about your goals, motivations, and values from completing this assignment.
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What I’ve learned |
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