Motivation Comes From Seeing Your Future Self

By: Jessica Drake-Simmons M.S. CCC-SLP

We all have a range in abilities of executive functioning.  Kids and adults alike can struggle with organization, memory, focus, managing time, initiating a task and completing a task.

Being able to visualize the future is an imperative skill for moving from event to event and showing up on time with the needed materials.

Some of our kids who struggle with executive functioning may seem distracted, disorganized and struggling to keep up with the pace of the day.

Additionally, some of these kids can be perceived as being unmotivated.   They might be smart kids that simply don’t appear driven to work up to their potential.  Executive functioning guru, Sarah Ward, asserts that these kids have difficulty imagining their future emotions.  They don’t intuitively imagine what they will feel like or what they will look like when they complete a task or achieve a goal.

What I need to look like now.                                   So that I can look like this later.

We want kids to be able to see the future, say the future, feel the future and plan for the future.  So how can we facilitate this skill of ‘future imagery thinking’?

• Have your child make an image by helping them talk through the following:
  • What will the environment look like?
  • Who else do you see being there?
  • What will I look like?
  • What will I feel like?

• Ask questions that encourage future imagery thinking.
  • Ask:  “When you walk into class tomorrow, what do you see yourself handing to your teacher?”
    • Instead of:  “What do you have for homework tonight?”
  • Ask: “What would you look like if you were standing by the door, ready to leave for soccer?”
    • Instead of: “Go get ready for soccer.”

Making a mental movie of the future requires us to actively think through the necessary steps in order to complete a task.  It enables us to envision and play a ‘dry run’ of a task without the risk of error.  Seeing the future helps us to persist through the present challenge in order to achieve our goals.

To learn more about Easter Seals DuPage and Fox Valley programs, visit eastersealsdfvr.org.

 

Featured image by: Lauren Sims