Congratulations to Michael Wong! U of A’s top undergraduate student convocated this June and exemplifies the qualities of a ‘strategic learner.’ Wong says he was driven by ‘true motivation’ – enjoying the process of learning: ‘The good grades are nice, but they were never my end goal. It really comes down to being interested in the things I’m studying. I never let myself feel like school work was a chore.’ Read more at http://tinyurl.com/mgmtfvp

How can we challenge our own self-handicapping?

Writing about motivation in elite youth athletes, Larry Lauer, PhD, of the Michigan Youth Sports Institute, describes several strategies for addressing self-handicapping. With self-awareness being an important first step, Lauer’s strategies are adapted here for the university setting:

• Use the right kind of self-talk: Avoid comparing yourself too much to the “competition,” negatively or positively. In university, an overconfident “I’m so much smarter than everyone else” is just as likely as a negative “dumbest in the class” thought to derail your optimal exam performance. Focus on what you can do.
• Know how your mind races: Many athletes and students describe how their minds race when they think about an exam or race, often worrying about the “what if” scenarios or what could be. Make lists of the things you can control and those you can’t. Then think about what you can do to enhance the things you do control – you’ll never be able to control the others, only prepare for them as best you can.
• Develop and Rehearse “proxy thoughts” to keep it real: Negative thoughts can cause your exam stress to skyrocket and impede your ability to focus. Develop alternative positive (and realistic) messages to replace the negative ones – I am prepared, focused, etc.
• Use rhythm and routines to your advantage: not having a predictable routine makes focusing on exams all the more difficult. Find a routine that works for you, and stick to it!

Check out Lauer’s complete article here: http://www.podiumsportsjournal.com/2011/08/25/overcoming-a-tough-competitor-self-handicapping/.

Why do we self-handicap?

Put simply, self-handicappers are their own worst enemies. They select alternatives that impair future performance (Berglas & Jones, 1978), and that specifically impact performance that they value in some way (Zuckerman, Keiffer, & Knee, 1998). Self-handicapping helps us avoid failure, or concerns about failure and success, and often does so with excuses that can be hard to dispute and challenging to unravel.

For instance, when a student is called upon to provide evidence of an ability about which they are uncertain, the student may choose to come up with a number of ways to avoid the situation and preserve their self-esteem. They may prepare a number of excuses as to why they cannot perform the task or why they cannot attend the class or meeting, they may become physically ill with flu-like symptoms, or they may invent a crisis that takes them away from having to deal with the situation. Or they may prepare a credible lie to avoid the truth.

Here are some behaviours students may engage in: 

• procrastination
• drug or alcohol use
• lack of sleep due to cramming for an exam
• over-involvement with friends who have problems
• family crisis (the problem was there before but now is really a problem even though nothing has really changed)
• cleaning their living space before the exam to avoid studying
• long term anxiety that causes the student to seek help at the last minute

Focusing on why we want to avoid a situation and valuing one’s own ongoing effort – rather than external perspectives and demands – can help minimize these self-sabotaging behaviours.