Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

There are two ways I approach understanding what innately motivates a child.

First, I like to look at their behaviors using the Strengths Based Parenting approach.

1. Yearning: What activities or environments is your child repeatedly drawn to or eager to try?
2. Rapid learning: What new skills or activities does your child pick up quickly and easily?
3. Satisfaction: When is your child most enthusiastic and fulfilled?  Which activities is he or she excited about doing again and again?
4. Timelessness: When does your child become so engrossed that he or she seems to lose track of time?

Secondly, I like to understand which one of the 5 big personality traits they best fit into.

1. Openness: People who are dominant in the openness personality trait are known for their curiosity, imagination, and ingenuity.
2. Conscientiousness: People who are dominant in the conscientiousness personality trait are known for their organization skills and have a tendency for perfectionism.
3. Extroversion: People who are dominant in the extroversion personality trait are known for being outgoing, energetic, and talkative.
4. Agreeableness: People who are dominant in the agreeableness personality trait are known for being highly cooperative with others. What’s more, agreeable people are often considerate, generous, forgiving and trusting.
5. Neuroticism: People who are dominant in the neuroticism personality trait are known for being emotional and have a tendency of being moody.

By combining these two approaches I then will categorize a child’s primary form of self-motivation into 1 of 9 types:

1. Autonomy
2. Competence
3. Social Bonding
4. Social Status
5. Accomplishment
6. Knowledge
7. Excitement
8. Challenge
9. Creativity

Then finally, using these 9 categories of self-motivation, I can develop a custom plan to pursue goals that takes advantage of a child’s unique strengths and motivations to optimize their potential for inevitable success.