Waiting for Motivation? Do this Instead! - Staying on Track in Grad School Series

Have you ever let a lack of motivation stop you from doing something that you need to do, or know will be beneficial for you? If yes, you are not alone. Many of us struggle when motivation fails to show up, and wonder if there’s something wrong with ourselves.  A lack of motivation can feel like an immovable roadblock standing in the way of reaching our goals.  However, motivation is nothing more than the reason(s) one has for behaving in a certain way, and the desire to do something. It often gets more attention than it deserves, and it is not necessary for us to reach our goals.

In this session you will:

• Understand what motivation is and isn’t
• Understand why not to depend on motivation to get to where you want to be
• Learn that motivation is an inside job
• Learn 3 antidotes to a lack of motivation
• Get introduced to the 7 R’s of lasting change that you can start to enact immediately

This session is part of the Staying on Track Series: A 5-part framework to make change stick for good.

Please note sessions in this series will not be recorded. Slides and resources will be posted following each session.

We are living at a time when there is no shortage of information at your fingertips for how you could be taking better care of yourself or working towards your goals. But the problem with change is rarely a case of not knowing what to do. The real challenge many of us face is doing the things that would improve our well-being or progress towards our goal with realistic planning, strategies that work, and consistency. In other words, there is a gap between knowing and doing.

In this series you will learn a few key skill sets that, when applied, will help you take better care of yourself and work towards your goals with greater consistency and ease.  Although the sessions work together, they can be attended independently. Please come prepared to discuss these topics with other students (breakout rooms may be used), and engage in personal reflection. You may wish to have paper and a pen ready for these reflections.

Past session:

• January 28th, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM: Organizational Habits and the Keys to Consistency

Upcoming sessions:

• February 26th, 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: Self-Care Strategies for Managing Stress and Avoiding Burnout
• March 18th, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM: The Practice of Realignment, or, Getting Unstuck
• April 3rd, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM: Imposter Phenomenon

Facilitators

Nathalie Bertrand (she/her), PhD is a bilingual, English-French clinical psychologist, native of the Province of Quebec, who has worked with young adults for more than 25 years. She has also been working with athletes as a sport clinical psychologist for Universite Laval and the national program GamePlan. 

Kyla Brophy (she/her) is a Pre-doctoral Intern at UBC Counselling Services, where she offers individual and group counselling. She is a PhD Candidate in Counselling Psychology at McGill University, with research focused on self-compassion, emotion regulation, and mental health. Before doctoral studies, Kyla worked in the non-profit sector on education and social justice initiatives, and in tertiary healthcare supporting youth with chronic illnesses.