A common mistake for parents is to search for talent by looking for an already full-blown motivation in a child’s life. That is a mistake because they will not find one, immediately give up, and falsely conclude their child was born under an “unlucky” star. Instead, the right approach to creating motivation is by introducing him to a simple skill that requires little effort and gives quick satisfaction. At that level, he will easily engage himself with encouragement by his parents. Then keep building his skill levels up until an intrinsic desire of his own starts growing stronger and stronger…and then a full-blown motivation will rage so strongly that all your friend and neighbors will see that your boy is “on fire!”
I have this issue with my son. He is hard to motivate. We are working on his talent with a lot of prodding from me. It is a lot of hard work. However, I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I actually saw him smile when he finished last week. He said “really you thought that was good?” I asked him if he could think of anything to make it better, and he said that he could not. So, I told him that was the best he could do at this time and that it will get better as we learn more. For now, what he did was great. He is showing signs of improvement. I point that out. Because it includes his interest. He is starting to get more and more motivated and “I” am not having to do most of the motivating. I would have given up if not for the encouragement I am getting from “Your Child’s First 100 Hours of Talent.” We are building talent and skills. Who knows he may branch off in unknown directions. But for now, I know he is going in the right direction and building confidence.