Competition forces people to improve themselves to survive the harsh world and drive them up to the top of social pyramid. If you need to spice up your motivation, try to compete with top students from your class or school. If you think your school lacks competition, try to compete with students from other schools. That drives you to work harder/smarter, improve yourself, and learn from your competitors so that you can score well in exam.

However, you should keep the competition healthy – think of win-win. Don’t cross the line and destroy your competitors just to cross the finish line first. You want you to win the competition with respect from others.

What if your teacher gives you 5000 bucks when you do well in exam? I’m sure that excites you to study whole day without complaining. That’s because people respond to incentive (reward). Reward lures you to work hard/smart to achieve success, so it’s a good idea to find someone to sponsor the reward. Ask your mummy to give you 100 bucks if you do well in next exam; or reward yourself a cup of warm, milky cappuccino at posh restaurant and a nice warm aromatic oil massage by a hot babe, after receiving your top student (plastic) trophy.

Punishment is another form of incentive to drive people. It’s the opposite of reward so that you are discouraged to do certain things, such as procrastinating and playing games whole day. I think reward works better than punishment (negative) so I seldom use this trick. Maybe it suits those people who enjoy torturing themselves with candle wax and horse whip? Neh, that sounds like reward to them.

Deadline looks like a red alert warning sign on your calendar. It forces you to do things on time. You can give yourself deadlines to make sure that you complete your work on time, every time – small deadlines for small tasks, big deadlines for major plans. It’s quite powerful to combine punishment with deadline to keep this motivation deadly effective.

Seeing visual encouragement such as motivational poster gives you a boost of motivation. There are many motivational posters out there for you to stick on highly visible places (toilet door, walls). A motivational poster consists of positive words and a picture depicting success. You can create your own poster using Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, and a printer. For those computer geeks, you can create electronic motivational visuals such as wall paper and screen saver. Please don’t use naked beach girls for your posters, for goodness sake!

After defeating procrastination and starting to study, you will notice that you study quite constantly – your study habit has formed. This means you are gaining momentum in what you are doing. Momentum, once you started it, will give you a push like invisible hand to go on. If you keep maintaining your momentum, it will push you on and on until it’s like addiction – you just can’t stop. Although momentum is a powerful motivator, you have to defeat an enemy first – procrastination. Make sure the momentum is not on the wrong side, such as game playing and sleeping whole day.

Success itself is a powerful motivator. Once you get to taste success, you gain euphoria, excitement, pride, and confidence, which helps to motivate you for the next challenge. It’s a good idea to accumulate small successes such as getting good result for every monthly test. This series of small successes can form a strong momentum to fuel you to chase after more successes, especially the big ones. Success brings you more successes, like snow balling effect.

Revenge might sound dark and evil, but it can be very motivating if you use it wisely. If your teachers and friends mock you, insult you, and tell you that you are stupid and weak, what will you do? Revenge might be your first thought, and you want it served cold. Puncturing your teacher’s car tyres, stealing your friend’s iPhone, and poisoning your neighbour’s dog seem to be cool and tempting.

Don’t do it. You are wasting your precious time and energy in destructive acts. You might hit them today but it will backfire and burn you badly. Cold revenge will leave a dark spot on your reputation and damage your social network. It’s a LOSE-LOSE solution. Say no to cold revenge. Keep it away. Toss it into trash can. Forget it.

The best way to take revenge is being successful. When people attack you, keep your cool. Keep improving yourself and strive for success. You want to prove your enemies wrong so you work your ass off and become the top student. Once you reach the top, you revenge is fulfilled. Your success sends you enemy a loud and clear message, saying “hey, listen. Now I’m successful. You are wrong. You FAILed to topple me and I choose not to let you influence me. I stand tall and proud.”

That’s a warm and elegant way of taking revenge. You win both the battle and the war. You gain honour and respect without getting your hands dirty. Next time when some bad guys try to demotivate you, be optimistic and see it as something positive. They are giving you free motivation after all. Be successful and take your sweet revenge.