Psychology of Motivation Assignment Essay

Upon examining my inner self, I have realized that I have a couple of behavioral excesses that I want to decrease. Firstly, I have realized that I have the tendency to delay things and wait for the deadline to be near before I do my assignments, both at home and in school. Though I still meet the requirements, the whole cramming business usually puts me at great stress after the work has been done. Another is my tendency to get easily irritated. When I am under pressure, I hate people bothering me, which sometimes lead to misunderstandings between me and my siblings, friends and classmates. On the other hand, I have only one dominant behavioral deficit that I want to overcome and that is my tendency to keep silent even if I know that my idea is better than what has been presented. I am not a very assertive person and I usually accept what others would have to say instead of insisting mine. The most plausible cause of my first identified behavioral excess is the reward that I am getting in the form of high scores every time I do my assignments near the deadline. I have noticed that my mind works best when under pressure. When I was still in my elementary years, I used to do my assignments immediately upon receipt of the advice coming from my teacher. Unfortunately, the results are not as good as those projects that I accomplish near the deadline. I have also noticed that my ideas are incredibly free flowing when I am under pressure. The high academic ratings that I earned out of the cramming business have reinforced me to start doing my assignments near the set deadlines. Unfortunately, now that I am already in my college years, the projects that I need to accomplish started to pile up and the stress I experience out of the situation is sometimes hard to bear physically as it drains my energy. On the other hand, the second behavioral excess that I have identified above is possibly caused by stress. It is connected with my tendency to delay accomplishing projects, thus, when in extreme pressure, I tend to nag and easily get irritated. This is unhealthy for me as far as my relationship with my siblings, classmates and friends are concerned. If is continue to do this, I will loose my friends and my closeness with my siblings will be affected as well. I really need to decrease this negative behavior by controlling my temper. Likewise, the deficit that I have identified to be overcome is possibly caused by the way our parents reared us. As a child, I remembered that I was not given much freedom to express my self and let my opinions on certain things be heard. If ever I do some deviations, I get scolded. These negative experiences have led me to accept what other people have to say instead of insisting on what I believe. Using the self control program, I think the most efficient strategy to make myself commit to this aim of controlling my behavioral excesses is to tell others and make them aware of my intentions. By doing this, I will be obliged to religiously follow my commitment. I will make a daily schedule with realistic timelines so that I will have clear targets and ensure prioritization of important things. By accomplishing the projects and things to do according to the planned schedule, I could be stress free and thus, avoid getting irritated immediately. In case I fail to meet a certain target, I will abstain from attending a scheduled fun activity. This will serve as my punishment for having failed to meet my goal. On the other hand, I will treat myself to a new book in case I consistently meet my targets. I will monitor my progress on a monthly basis until such time that my aim becomes a habit. In overcoming my behavior deficit, I will start joining groups where exchange of ideas is frequent. My target is to express my opinion at least once in every topic being discussed. The reward that I will gain here will be in the form of self fulfillment. The only obstacle that I have seen here is fear of rejection but I think the reward is worth the risk.