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Writer's pictureSarah Davis

Can Talking to Yourself Increase your Motivation in Grad School?

Goal-oriented self-talk is next in the series on motivation regulation strategies for graduate students.


You’ve probably heard of self-talk before and maybe you even do it without realizing it!

Goal-oriented self-talk centres around students’ use of thoughts or statements while engaged in an academic activity (Wolters, 2003).


Another way to describe it is the thoughts or (hopefully whispered) statements you may say or think to yourself when you are doing a task in graduate school.


Woman looking in mirror

For example, if I’ve finally completed something I had been putting off for a while (e.g., reading revisions on a manuscript from Reviewer 2), I may think “You finally did it even though it was hard and you kept putting it off. Well done!”


Or, if I’m in the middle of a task that’s challenging, I may say: “Just keep going and read this section of the manuscript so you can reach your goal of reading one article relevant to your dissertation every morning.”


Goal-oriented self-talk usually involves reference to or recognition of progress being made in relevance to a goal you have set for yourself.


Students who use goal-oriented self-talk tend to focus more on performance outcomes (e.g., getting a certain mark) rather than mastery outcomes (e.g., learning more about a topic), but overall it can be helpful to increase effort (Wolters, 2003).


So, the next time you are struggling with your motivation in grad school, try some goal-oriented self-talk to help you persevere!


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