Research found that when people have no control over their environment, and has unsuccessfully attempted to change the situation, they give up trying to exert control. In other words, they learn to be helpless. The three factors that influence motivation are personalization, the degree by which one contributes success or failure to oneself; permanence, the future expectation of how long the current condition will last; and pervasiveness, the degree of which a success or failure influence all other areas of one's life. Optimism in the three factors seems to be associated with high motivation and achievement. The most important factor in motivation is that one has to want to motivate oneself, and play an active role in it. Keep positive expectations, be relaxed, have positive emotions, and be active. That's how a person becomes motivated.

The secret in enhancing your memory is the knowledge of how memory works and how we should remember to maximize the possibility of retrieval. Generally, making an effort to reorganize new materials you've encountered is a good start. The act exerts a form of emotional stress that helps you convert materials into long-term memory. When learning something new, first browse through what you will read since it works as an advanced organizer. After learning, take a break and exercise a bit to increase your epinephrine levels, which help with memorization. Then, go back to review old materials before starting on any new information, this will help you retain learning much better.

Below is a summarized list of strategies that may help you to remember better.

* Intend, file and rehearse: The first step to any memorization is the will to remember. If you do not intend to remember something, chances are, you won't remember it. Then, it is necessary to organize the information in ways that help memorization, such as using mnemonic devices, actually understanding the material. Finally, we forget what we have learned if we do not use it or encounter with it again. Try to incorporate what you have learned into your life, or at least rehearse it frequently if you want to keep it readily accessible in your memory.

Following are some useful strategies for the file stage:

* Decide what to memorize and chunk it, conquer it step by step
* Make organizational or flow charts of what you have learned
* Write down chunks of information that you have learned on flashcards or self-sticking notes and arrange them in a meaningful way, then rehearse often.
* Use an exaggerated visual connection to remember
* Record the material on audiotapes and review it while driving, walking or doing other activities.

The idea stems from the story of Pygmalion, who created a female statue and showed such affection that the statue came to life. What we expect tends to come true. An interesting research has been conducted where the teachers were told that a select group of students have been identified with high potentials when they are, in fact, a randomly selected group. By the end of the research, however, this group of supposedly 'gifted' students performed noticeably better than the other group that was identified as an average group. The students fulfilled their expectations for themselves. Therefore, positive expectations allow a person to foster his own potential.

Howard, Pierce J.  The Owner’s Manual for the Brain.  2^nd ed.  Austin: Bard Press, 2000.