[August 12, 2016] I taught at the college level part-time for many years. It gave me an appreciation for what young adults lack in skills, view as an outlook on life, and in their personal motivations. The one thing I found common among them was that they consistently lacked a plan for life and rely on “hope” as their way to achieve success. Hope, however, is not a plan.
There has been a lot of research on the fact that younger people today rely more and more on an “external locus of control.” This means they rely more on others to tell them what they should be doing and are more likely to blame others (or circumstances) for any failures in their lives. “I don’t have the social network to make it in this job.” “My boss gets in my way of succeeding in this position.”
The idea that life is controlled by outside conditions means those persons will see little point in working toward any specific life goals or have a plan to get there. What, then, would be the point? To wait and hope for change, then becomes the only logical recourse. Motivation dies for a person who believes this way and cognitive psychological research confirms it.
The solution is personal motivation. Psychologists from Columbia University found that people who think they’re in control tend to push themselves more and work harder.1 Motivation that comes from within is the fire that makes people feel more autonomous and the more they feel autonomous the more they are motivated to take action. Leaders don’t complain because they’re motivated make things happen. This is the difference between those who rely on hope to get things accomplished.
My observation of the best leaders is that they have a bias towards action. They may make mistakes, many mistakes especially during their junior years, but they have learned that they’re able to take control of a situation and succeed. They have learned the skill of motivation; something that is not consciously taught in academia. No one should be surprised that when those college graduates come to us as new military members, they lack what it takes to do well.
But the military teaches those who lack motivation and lack a plan for their lives. This is why, regardless of military rank, veterans who leave the service have a strong desire to remain a part of the military culture and have a positive outlook on their time in the service and their lives.
Those same veterans have a plan for their lives; it may be a simple idea like getting a job or graduating from college or starting a small business, but it is a plan and they are not relying on hope or someone to tell them what to do. Hope will never be a plan and they know it.
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