Highly motivated kids have a greater advantage in life than kids with a high IQ
There’s a term for people like Ovsak—the kind of go-getter who would
actually choose to take on a complicated programming challenge on top of
a heavy load of demanding schoolwork. Educational psychologists Adele
and Allen Gottfried call people who are standouts when it comes to
effort and determination “motivationally gifted.” According to the
Gottfrieds, our culture has vastly underestimated just how essential
motivation is to ensuring success later in life. If society learns to
value this quality in the same way that it regards intelligence or
leadership skills, it could be an enormous boon for
children—particularly because motivation, unlike many other talents, is a
quality that’s accessible to us all.
The Gottfrieds believe one of the study’s most significant findings centers on motivation. Kids who scored higher on measures of academic intrinsic motivation
at a young age—meaning that they enjoyed learning for its own
sake—performed better in school, took more challenging courses, and
earned more advanced degrees than their peers. They were more likely to
be leaders and more self-confident about schoolwork. Teachers saw them
as learning more and working harder. As young adults, they continued to
seek out challenges and leadership opportunities. If there’s a secret
sauce to winning at life, the motivational kids seemed to have found it.
(QZ.com)
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