Today we’d like to introduce you to Motivation Matters Tutor – Coaching.
Hi Motivation Matters Tutor – Coaching, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
We are transformation coaches! (I’m Linda, on the right; I’m Daphne, on the left.) Think of the very best teacher and athletic coach you’ve ever had. Blend those two, and that’s what we do. Most people enter the game of learning and professional achievement with:
• No game awareness
• No strategic playbook
• No mental conditioning
• And a last-minute, hail Mary approach to performance
We change that. At Motivation Matters Tutor – Coaching, we train intellectual athletes—people who know how to think, learn, and perform under pressure. With us, they build the knowledge, know-how, confidence, and strategies to win, not just survive.
Ours is a story of two educators who became obsessed with finding a better way for students to learn. We refused to accept the status quo, where the philosophy was “make it, or break it.”
It all started when Daphne, our Educational Coordinator, almost failed out of graduate school with below average scores in a premed, Phys-Pharm class. A friend recommended that she meet Linda, our Director, who taught her the strategies and science of learning. Daphne captured the results:
“In just four weeks of working with Linda, my mindset and learning strategies were completely transformed! And then on the next exam, I scored in the top 10% of the class. In short, Linda helped save my academic career! I was on my way to becoming a master in the game of learning and the changes stuck with me!”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Changing people’s go-to ideas and methods is not easy! For decades we taught at the same college and advocated for combining our approaches. So, Daphne would teach basic chemistry and Linda would provide the learning strategies. Or, Linda would teach the reading, study skills, and writing courses and Daphne would provide relevant, chemistry content to practice on. Many instructors and students were eager for these options: administrators not so much. We shared students and materials, but never got the integrated courses off the ground. Yet, we succeeded — one student at a time.
Once we started the business, this issue reared up again. We are a totally online service. While it makes for great scheduling flexibility, it also creates problems. Software and hardware don’t always work perfectly! And, frankly, online tools don’t always create the same results. For example, capturing text analysis with inserted notes tends to be briefer and less thoughtful than annotating in the margins of a book. And showing one’s work online in problem solving assignments requires more diligence. But, we’ve learned to adjust by using newer tools and deeper, reflective questions.
Overall, we have had great success, because we work with students individually and can develop the combined approaches that work for each student. There have been a few times, however, where our methods have not met the clients’ or students’ desires for fast results that focused on raising just course grades. But those have been few and far between. What most students experience and parents are astonished by is the way learning how to learn raises not just the weak subject, but all others as well. And the resulting confidence and motivation boost is a treasured transformation.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Motivation Matters Tutor – Coaching?
In two words — motivation matters! All the great work anyone does starts with simple sounding approaches: “I want this, I can do this, I will do this” and — the upshot of all — “I am someone who ….!” Those attitudes, or mindsets, are not common and they’re not commonly taught. But they’re the fire, the emotional desire that sparks the drive we call motivation.
Rather than an on-off switch, motivation is really a global term for the many ways to get engaged, care, and pursue goals of any size. We start with a what’s missing assessment. Where are the gaps? What information, methods, and beliefs are absent and getting in the way of success? We make a plan to fill those potholes in as we go.
Then we dig into completing specific tasks with motivation. We might begin with a discussion of why the content or job matters. We also introduce successful working methods and skills to bring in that “can do” feeling. “Will do” comes from planning, which we’re big on! “I am” comes from celebrating. It’s never enough to just get there. It’s a recognition of accomplishment that prompts the on-going motivation we’re after!
We’re most proud of the transformations we help create. It is, of course, our students who make the changes. We’re just guides on the side. But when a floundering student sees herself as a future pediatrician and digs in to make that happen, we feel pride in our “coach on the side” methods.
In sum, we are coaches, not traditional tutors. Our firm belief is that today’s issues are not the way it has to be tomorrow! Problems do not define who a person is. And, they’re not permanent!
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
We love the people! The open, multi-cultural vibe suits us perfectly! We’re a fan of the weather when it’s our normal San Diego mean temp of 72 — or close to it. We’re not a fan of the traffic or the getting more like LA driving. But the natural beauty of our city overcomes even that!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://motivationmatters.us
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/mmtutorcoaching
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/motivation-matters-tutor-coaching
- Twitter: https://x.com/mmtutorcoaching
