The Science of Motivating Young People

Dear St. Margaret’s Community,

In the early months of the new year, so many of us aspire to make changes for the better.  We look back on the year that recently closed, and we set intentions and goals to make the current year better than the one before.  As we all know, making these changes can be quite challenging. At the core of this desire to change is motivation—a topic I find endlessly fascinating. 

My first official foray into the topic of motivation was in my doctoral program when I was assigned a book called, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. Through years of research, Dweck explained to me in one thin book how a mindset could alter one’s approach to learning for better or worse.  When I arrived at St. Margaret’s in 2012 as the Academic Dean, Carol Dweck was the first person I invited to speak to parents and professional community members. Her description of the distinction between a fixed and a growth mindset, and the motivational behaviors they drive, was truly life changing for me.

Now thanks to Dweck’s original work, we have another remarkable opportunity to delve deeper into motivation through the work of David Yeager. His new book titled, 10 to 25: the Science of Motivating Young People digs deeper into how we can help the young people in our lives reach their fullest potential. Motivation is one facet of the human experience that can be incredibly awe inspiring and also remarkably frustrating. We have analyzed our own motivations and certainly questioned whether we are doing all that we can to motivate our children toward whatever aim we or they deem important. We watch our children tirelessly train for an athletic contest, spend hours reciting lines or study one topic for hours and then wonder how that same tenacity is not evident in all aspects of their lives. 

This book, while technically focused on a specific age range, is relevant to anyone who is on a learning path and more directly to the people who are in a position to mentor them. The original research grounding the book is based on the wise-feedback study. This landmark study defined three mindsets commonly employed to motivate young people called the enforcer, protector and mentor mindsets.  In the first mindset, the enforcer, the manager focuses on the high standard and doesn’t consider supporting the person to achieve that standard. In the protector mindset, the manager focuses on the potential distress of achieving a high standard and therefore lowers the expectation. In the mentor mindset, “young people are held to high standards, but they are also given the support they need to meet those high standards.” 

Throughout the book, Yeager shares research that makes clear the mentor mindset is the way to help young people grow and succeed. Yeager goes on to say that if you have high standards and a high level of support, you can be a mentor and help a young person achieve remarkable goals. 

And importantly, the mentor mindset helps us provide a route to what young people (generally ages 10-25) really crave, which is respect. He notes that young people yearn to feel accomplished and deeply desire respect from their peers, which he describes as prestige. In utilizing the mentor mindset we can help young people “earn prestige which they need far more than a self-esteem puff-up. Thus we can begin to resolve the adolescent predicament.” 

For those who are not yet reflecting on the adolescent predicament, as he calls it, it is often experienced as a conflict in what we think should be motivating to young people and what actually motivates them. For those of you who are inclined to read his book, I won’t ruin the intrigue but instead tell you that it will likely help you understand the teenager in your home or the one you are about to have. 

What motivates any of us is the question that caused me to pick up the book and what kept me reading it and buying it for everyone on my leadership team: I truly believe it is one of the things that makes St. Margaret’s so special. Mentors abound here, whether they are in the classrooms or on the fields, courts and stages. They hold young people to high expectations and provide the support they need to get there. They truly believe in our young people and that belief is communicated in word and deed.

This is the reason why I consistently hear from our graduates that they are prepared for college and for life. It is because they have been treated with the dignity and respect of high expectations and high support, and they know that they can achieve their goals because they have done it before. They have earned the status and respect that comes from working hard and seeing one’s goals fulfilled, all while having teachers, coaches and advisors behind and beside them. 

And, as it relates to peers who determine which behaviors are respected, our young people are surrounded by classmates who are hard-working and set high expectations for themselves. This can’t be underestimated as a relevant factor in why and how peer respect is earned.  Just recently I met a young man who is interested in joining the St. Margaret’s community. He said one of the reasons for his interest is that, “at SMES, I feel like I can flourish because everyone is aspiring to be their best selves. I find that incredibly motivating and I want to be a part of it.” I loved his fresh-eyed insight into our student body and the power of the student culture.

His perspective caused me to reflect on the difference between my high school and college experience. In college, I was surrounded by aspiring, hard-working peers who were both interested and interesting. My college peers were early to class, studied hard, went to office hours and set high expectations for themselves. I was positively influenced by my peers and reflected on this experience when choosing a school for my own children. The student culture at St. Margaret’s cannot be underestimated as a factor in the learning and growth of our children.  We look to our peers, particularly in adolescence, to determine what is valued and respected. I love that at St. Margaret’s, it is respected to be kind, hard-working, motivated, and to give back to our communities.

For parents and adults, Yeager reminds us that the secret sauce of the mentor mindset is treating young people with dignity and respect at a time when they are most vulnerable.  He goes on to say, “That’s not magic, it’s the human condition.”  And importantly, another part of the human condition is the pride one feels in real accomplishment – things that are hard-earned and supported by respected mentors and peers.  

As we embark on this new year together, I wish you the motivation to achieve your goals and the mindset to help the young people in your life achieve theirs. I know I speak for our entire professional community when I tell you that it is such an incredible honor to be a witness to a young person developing in heart and mind each day.  We take this responsibility seriously and we are grateful for the opportunity to be your partner in the growth of your precious children.