Motivation in Young Adults

This time of year, we normally see an uptick in lack of motivation among our students, including young adults. It’s cold, most of the day is spent inside due to weather (and the pandemic), and we often hear many students express that they feel “stuck.” Enduring February in 2021 can often feel like navigating life without a roadmap – there isn’t much structure or routine. This is where we often hear of parent-student conflict, and it normally sounds something like this…The parent is worried about their student, so they try to push them to do something new, something that provides structure like working out or joining an extracurricular group. The student pushes back, not wanting to hear how they should be spending their time from their parent. Then, the parent and student, eventually become upset with each other. It’s a tale as old as time. This is where we often get connected with these families. Because of our wide selection of tutors, we are able to pair the student with a tutor who shares their common interests and has a similar personality, someone they connect with that’s not their parent. Normally, the student is more receptive to suggestions coming from their tutor. These students are quite often the most bright, capable people that come through our doors, they just need some help getting unstuck.

Interests

One thing that’s often invaluable in helping students get unstuck is to find an interest they can immediately tap into. Finding something they are interested in, where they can connect with their peers, generally helps boost motivation and confidence which spills over into every area of their life. Think of this as a motivation jumpstart. Here, we really listen to the student. What do they like to do in their free time? When they’re with friends? What’s something they have always wanted to try? This is an important piece with older students and young adults. From here, we help students research clubs, local meetups, or sports teams that correspond with their expressed interests. We sit alongside them as they take action, researching, planning, and coordinating their schedules to accommodate these interests. This could be as simple as making sure they put practices, meetings, or gatherings into the calendar on their phone.

Job Search

We also help students find jobs or internships. One student we recently started working with graduated high school but didn’t want to go away to a university or attend a community college, so Quad, one of our all-star tutors, is working with him to help him find a job. In this case, this young adult needed hands-on help to figure out his next step. Tutors outside of Wright Academics will often send a student off with a list and ask them to go through it on their own. At Wright Academics, we walk through the list WITH the student. Our tutors offer nonjudgmental support to help young adults if they get stuck or have questions. This is just one of the services we provide college-aged students, both in-person and virtually.

This can often feel intimidating or scary, and if something feels that way, most people avoid it. So, we help students set goals and stay motivated to complete applications, attend interviews, and send emails. This is equally as important as helping students with their academics; this is where the executive functioning umbrella starts to widen into real world tasks. We help students get from point A to point B. Our executive function coaching is fully hands-on and helps students and young adults navigate whatever they are going through; it’s concrete help. Our coaching is also interactive. We often ask students, “What will help you the most?” We want students to feel like working with us is a partnership.

Academic Work

Over the past few months, we have partnered with many college students who have very little motivation because they feel so apathetic towards school, whether they are learning online or in-person. This lack of motivation often spills over and impacts every other area of their life. So, academically, our mission is to connect with that student, find out what they need, and make incremental progress in that area. Again, this is where our diverse group of tutors makes us different. If a student is into football, heavy metal, video games, or other activities, chances are we have a tutor who shares that same interest. Most times, these students leave their tutoring sessions with a spark in their eye or pep in their step that was not there previously.

Connection can change a person’s life trajectory, and that’s what quality coaching is all about. If you have a college-aged student or young adult who is struggling in any of the above areas, please reach out to us. We have a host of resources we can refer you to, and we would be happy to discuss your child’s unique needs!

Looking for academic support? To learn about the services we offer, click HERE.

About Evelyn Wright

Evelyn Wright is the Director of Wright Academics, a tutoring business created to target kids’ specific needs. Her passion is helping students and families succeed so that they achieve their maximum potential in and out of the classroom.

With over 25 years of experience working with children and their families in public and private schools, as well as in private practice, Evelyn’s focus is understanding the individual’s learning profile, guiding families of children with learning differences and matching students to the tutor or coach that best fits the student. She believes in not only matching educational needs to the right tutor’s skills, but matching a student to the tutor with the right personality.