Graduate Student Success Coaching

The Motivational Style Quiz

by Graduate Student Success

Motivation in Graduate School

Getting a graduate degree is an exercise in patience. You're in it for the long haul, and you have to find ways to maintain your motivation over the course of years. It's common for graduate students to start energetic and motivated, only to lose that energy along the way. Procrastination and burnout are common, especially for those with a thesis or dissertation requirement.

Motivation Is Not Universal

One mistake that many students make is assuming that what motivates others should motivate them. Sometimes they believe that there are right and wrong ways to be motivated. They often blame themselves when the reward of earning a degree isn't enough to get them all the way through. However, the problem doesn't lie in what motivates them; the problem lies in a mismatch between what motivates them and the approach they are using to motivate themselves.

Your Motivational Style

So, what's a student to do? The first step to solving the problem of waning motivation is to identify your motivational style. Everyone has a motivational style where certain approaches work better than others. Identifying your motivational style enables you to create the best incentive structure for you to complete any task. We promise you'll get more done working with your style than trying to be productive despite it.

Take this 20-question survey to identify your motivational style. Rank how much you agree with the following statements: