Skip Redundant Navigation

 
Information Reviewed: Maintaining Your Motivation
Author(s): J. Budde, K. Feighny, G. White, D. Altus, and J.A. Snyder
Source: Consumer Control: How to Command Decisions and Achieve Personal Goals (pp.158-172). Lawrence, KS: The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living, The University of Kansas
Date: 1990
Type: Chapter
Overview:

When you take responsibility for your life, you are likely to run into problems. This is a natural consequence of making your own decisions. You have the ability to overcome these problems and should plan for them. Be prepared to get around them. Problems are temporary roadblocks and can give you the opportunity to practice old skills and learn new ones.

Here are some examples of the right way to plan for and react to obstacles:

  • You choose to sit in the front of the auditorium so you can see the blackboard. Your teacher tells you that you cannot sit there because your wheelchair will be in the way. You had anticipated this problem, and you respond to your teacher with a carefully reasoned request for sitting in the front. Your teacher accepts your request and allows you to remain in front.
  • You decide that you are going to move into your own apartment. Your parents put up a big fuss and tell you that you aren't ready to live on your own. You have anticipated that your parents will not like your decision, so you have already made an appointment for them to visit an apartment complex where some people with disabilities live. After your parents visit the complex, they admit that it is possible for you to live independently.
  • You decide that you want to operate an in-home business. You ask your vocational rehabilitation counselor whether services will pay for a course in business management. Your counselor refuses to authorize payment because she thinks operating a business will be too stressful for you and will lead to more mental health problems. You have anticipated this reaction, and you have brought along a friend with a similar disability who operates an in-home business. This friend describes to your counselor how he has been able to manage his business without increasing his stress level. As a result of your friend's testimonial, your counselor changes her mind and agrees to pay for your course.

    Here are some examples of the wrong way:

  • You enter a building to apply for a job. Someone tells you that you cannot bring your guide dog into this building. You have not anticipated this reaction, and you get tongue-tied and don't know what to say. As a result of this, you turn around and leave.
  • You decided that you are going to see your benefits administrator about the delay in your payments. Your mother says she is going to accompany you. You don't want her to come along, but, on the spur of the moment, you are unable to come up with a tactful way to tell her to stay home. As a result, you don't say anything and she goes with you.

    To maintain your motivation, seek out those people who are encouraging. Avoid the people who stand in your way. Relax each day to renew your energy and come up with a phrase you say to yourself that calms you. Also make a list of positive statements to repeat to yourself during the day and visualize reaching your goal.

    Support groups, too, can keep you working toward your goal. They also help you make contacts and let you share information. For more information, contact the Research and Training Center on Independent Living, 4089 Dole, 1000 Sunnyside Ave., Lawrence, KS (785) 864-4095, rtcil@ku.edu, Website

    This research was supported by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research in the U.S. Department of Education. #1985

    Budde, J., Feighny, K., White, G., Altus, D., & Snyder, J. A. (1990). Maintaining your motivation. Consumer control: How to command decisions and achieve personal goals (pp.158-172). Lawrence, KS: The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living, The University of Kansas.

    Keyword: Empowerment

    Copyright. The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Independent Living.

    		•
    Reviewer: Cindy Higgins

    Copyright ©2010