- Are you having a hard time staying motivated in school?
Are you having a hard time staying focused
and getting the job done this school year?
Well I have one word that I believe will change
your entire outlook on school and staying motivated.
You wanna hear it?
Watch this video.
(upbeat rock music)
Hey, what's up?
I'm Kantis Simmons, academic success coach
and leading authority on student achievement
as well as the author of Playing Your A Game.
Now I realize that as a student there come times
in your academic life when you absolutely hate
getting up, going to school, or maybe even going to class.
And a lot of times, I realize that you are moved
and you are motivated to do some things.
And then other times, I realize that it is
a hard task for you to be moved to do certain things.
And so many times students ask me,
"Kantis, what can I do to stay motivated in school?"
And as I thought about the word motivation,
the root word of motivation is motive.
And I often ask myself and ask other students
what's your motive for going to school?
So in this video, I'm not only gonna talk about
motive and motivation, but I'm gonna give you
one word that you can think about that could
potentially give you more motivation
to succeed in school.
And that word is--
Now (laughs) before I tell you what that word is,
let me ask you this.
Let's say for example that there was a lake.
And in this lake there were snakes.
In this lake there were alligators.
In this lake there was mud and dirt
and just a lot of crazy nasty things.
If I told you hey, would you jump in the lake
and grab my football that I dropped in the lake?
You'll probably say no way.
I would never get in the lake with the football,
the snakes, and everything else.
But what if in the lake
was somebody that you loved?
Somebody, maybe it was your son,
you daughter, your mom, your dad,
somebody that's very special to you?
And that person was drowning in the lake
and you were standing there at the bank
and you had the opportunity to save them.
Now your motivation for jumping in the dirty,
snaky lake with alligators has changed
because of your why.
You see, the reason you jumped in the lake
to save your loved one is because of the why.
Your loved one was in the lake, so you jumped in the lake.
They key questions that you have to ask yourself is this.
Why am I doing this?
And as a student, I ask you this question.
Why are you in school?
Why do you take the classes you take?
Why do you want to pursue a certain college degree?
Why do you want to go into a career field?
Motivation comes from that word motive.
If you look at the word motor,
a motor runs the car.
Your why, the big reason why you're in school,
that's your motor and your motive
that keeps you motivated to succeed in school.
So I want to help you define your why.
Now after watching this video, you may not
know your why right now,
but I want you to think about it.
Because if you can understand your big why
for jumping in the lake, then you can understand
your big why for staying motivated in school,
staying focused, and getting the job done.
Now what I've created, something I've always used,
it's called my motivation creed.
Now whenever I go to a school, I speak to students
or I'm doing a workshop for educators,
I always pull out my motivation creed
because I want students in the audience
to be able to articulate
this motivation creed.
And the motivation creed goes like this.
And it's a fill-in-the-blank
and you can fill in the blanks.
It says I, blank, want to obtain a degree
in blank, so that I can help blank
accomplish blank.
One more time.
I, blank, say your name.
Want to obtain a degree in blank,
now that's the degree or the diploma or the certificate
or whatever you want to achieve.
So that I can help blank.
Now the person that you help, it could be a person,
it could be an industry, it could be a niche,
it could be a certain career field,
it could be a certain genre of people.
I blank, want to to obtain a degree in blank,
so that I can help blank accomplish blank.
That's your motivation creed.
So you motivation creed would sound something like this.
I, Kantis Simmons, want to obtain
a degree in chemistry
so that I can help families
accomplish their greatest level of health.
Or I, David, want to obtain a degree
in medicine
so that I can help horses with little broken legs
accomplish the ability to walk (laughs), okay?
Or I, Sherita, want to obtain a degree
in business so that I can help other business owners
accomplish their lifetime dreams.
What's your big why?
What's your motive?
What's your motor for achieving
the success you desire in school?
Now here's the thing I want you to do.
I'm gonna give you some action items.
And what I want you to do is this.
You can go one of two places.
You can go to my Facebook page,
Facebook.com/KantisSimmons,
Go to my fan page,
Facebook.com/KantisSimmons,
and on my page, I want you to state your why.
I, blank, want to obtain a degree in blank
so that I can accomplish blank.
Now if want to print out this motivation creed,
down below I'll put a link there where you can
actually print this motivation creed out
and fill in the blanks and post it somewhere
in your room, in your study area,
your bathroom, or wherever you spend your time.
But I want you to be accountable.
I want you to take the initiative.
Just go to my page, let me know,
let the entire world know what your why is.
I, blank, want to accomplish a degree in blank
so that I can help blank
accomplish blank.
And here's what I'm going to do.
I'm gonna find one lucky person, just pick a random pick,
and I have somebody help me out.
I'll do a random pick and what I'll do
is that I'll select one person
and I'll give you my academic success
kit for students.
It comes with the book, the Playing Your A Game book.
It also comes with the audio series Why School.
It also comes with the CD, Better Grades in Seven Days.
Plus it comes with the CD,
7.25 Study Habits of Highly Effective Students.
And it also comes with a CD called Study Sounds.
This is a music CD that I did with my brother
that gives you the opportunity to learn how to focus.
So yeah, I'll select one person.
You go put your reason, your why,
for being in school and I'll select one lucky winner
to give this academic success kit to.
And by the way again, go to
Facebook.com/KantisSimmons
and place your big why there.
If you're not on Facebook, hey,
send it to me on Twitter.
Just make sure you put my name there.
And I'll put all the comments on Facebook and Twitter
together and I'll randomly pick a number
and I will contact you to notify you as the winner.
Hey, my name is Kantis Simmons.
If you loved this video, do me a great favor.
Subscribe to it, share it, let a friend know about it.
And if you also have the opportunity to
speak to other teachers or parents or educators
and you know that they're looking for a speaker
to bring to their school, hey, give me a call.
Just go to KantisSimmons.com
and I'll do my best to serve you.
Hey, remember this, only one game in life counts
and that's your A game.
Have a blessed day.
Bye-bye.
(upbeat rock music)