Aiming for excellence: Plan versus hope

Motivation can only give a start to learning. Guarded focus and steady study can build real skill and confidence, writes Jeevakumar R

Do you have a new year resolution? Research shows that only about 8 per cent of people keep. Motivation and resolutions feel good. It provides a brief surge of energy. But that burst does not build skill or steady learning output. Motivation starts action, but often ends soon. It fails when people treat it as the plan. A more effective method for studying is to align purpose, attention, and practice.

Replace motivation with alignment. Name a purpose. Guard your attention. Build a simple practice plan. These three habits link into what I call the triple thread. Purpose points the work where attention turns intent into real hours, and practice grows skill through repeated, focused effort.

Triple thread of learning

We know that purpose gives direction. But how to get a direction, towards the alignment? Use a simple Ikigai check. List what you love, what you do well, what people need, and what you can be paid for. Pick two or three items to start. A named purpose makes it easy to decide what to do and what to drop.

To manage attention, use the Eisenhower Matrix to quickly sort study tasks. Draw four boxes. Label them: Do Now, Schedule, Delegate, and Delete. Put urgent and important tasks in Do Now. Put important but not urgent tasks in the schedule. Put urgent but not important tasks in Delegate. Put tasks that are neither urgent nor important in Delete.

This means: Do exam-day revision now. Schedule project work and weekly study blocks. Delegate or limit group logistics or non-study chores. Delete social scrolling and low-value busy work. If you spot a busy work map, delete it. Check the matrix each morning and move items across boxes as priorities shift. Block time for focused work and keep it uninterrupted.

Deep work means sustained attention without switching tasks. Studies show that deep work improves learning and output. The practice of blocking quiet hours raises the quality of what you finish. Practice grows skill. Adopt a growth mindset. Treat skill as something you can expand through steady effort and feedback. Repeat short, focused sessions and record small gains each week. This practice creates progress that motivation cannot match.

This is a simple discipline. A short, concrete plan can precede motivation. Write one monthly action plan and make it visible. Block two or three deep work sessions each day. Keep these sessions free of calls, email, and social checks. Review progress every morning and again weekly. Make small, clear edits to the plan after each review.

Drop busy work and pseudo-study time

Stop tasks that do not show measurable outcomes. Use the saved time for skill work that moves something you care about. Build relationships without seeking instant returns. Small favours and steady help expand access and open options later. 

Here is a real example from media work. At Asianet in the early 2000s, my team chased client meetings with high motivation. The team believed more meetings meant more business. We named a clearer purpose: grow viewership, not meetings.

We then shifted attention to expanding distribution through local cable operators. We blocked time for follow-ups and data checks each week. We discontinued low-value tasks that yielded no measurable gains among the audience.

The result came quickly. Audience numbers rose, and advertisers responded. That change came from aligning purpose, attention, and practice, not from a fresh burst of will.

Why the alignment approach works

Motivation gives a start. Alignment produces finish. Name the single project you want to move and block a focused time for it. Do one specific task in that hour and record the result. You can see small aligned moves add up. They replace hope with steady, measurable progress. 

If you can treat study as a design choice, not a mood, and use tools such as Ikigai to articulate the purpose and the Eisenhower Matrix to select daily work, while protecting focused time and practising with a clear plan, then alignment occurs. Do one aligned hour today and note the result. Repeat that hour three times this week. Small, steady choices build real skill and lasting results in learning and life.

(The author is a media professional and an academic)