My first research paper topic was motivation

My first research paper was on the topic of motivation. It was for an undergraduate course in research writing, and I was a track athlete interested in the question, “does confidence make you a more successful athlete?” I was sure it did.

As an athlete, I learned that if I believed I could beat my competition, I usually did. And if I believed they were better than me, they usually fulfilled that prophecy. I was that kid who lived out the motto, “if I can’t win, I won’t try.” I’m sure there is some therapy I could do to uncover the source of that particular trait, which I have worked to not pass down to my own children.

But in order to succeed during my competitive running days on the track, I created a little internal dialogue as to why I was able to beat each person on the starting line with me. That girl is too skinny (I was also skinny). That girl’s hair is too mousy (my hair was also mousy). That girl is over-confident. Oh, the irony.

Of course, none of these things actually determined the ability of the other competitors – their weight, their hair, or the look on their face – but my belief that I had some kind of advantage over them? That definitely affected how motivated I was to try. I won a lot of races.

And thus, my first-ever research topic: the relationship between motivation and success. It’s funny now to see that I’ve come back to some version of this question.