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Michael Elliott,

The Unmotivated Child: A Crisis in Perception

What if we consider the possibility that lack of motivation is a symptom of an underlying or invisible condition, invisible even to the child with the symptom? We would then be able to begin an imaginative process for understanding. The imaginative process is really nothing more than liberating the symptom from the prison of literal definition. The literal definition sounds something like, “he just isn’t motivated” or “she has given up” or “he doesn’t seem to care” or “she isn’t trying her hardest” and so we are frustrated and stuck with our unacceptable definition. Even “I just don’t know what else to do” is accepting the definition through resignation. William Doll, distinguished educational theorist states, “definitional knowledge aborts unborn thoughts.” Have we rushed to judgment in our definition of the problem?

Experts give us a terminal hypothesis (“the unmotivated child is this way because…”). We are left with an unalterable condition (“lack of motivation”) by the mere fact that we are not considering the symptom as a metaphor which offers possible meaning or many meanings.

What would happen if we imagined the symptom as a call for help or as an expression of an invisible potential’s desire to be known? What then would happen to the apparent “stuckness” of the child whose true potential might be saying, I knock by turning away and you do not answer me, I scream by going silent and you do not hear me, I cry by getting angry and you do not feel me, instead you see me doing nothing signifying a silent and invisible sound and fury?

We must listen with a caressing imagination and trust in imaginative truth. And when we have looked and looked, and think we are no longer able to search for the invisible meaning, we rely on faith to keep us going.


The Point And Focus Group represents: teamwork-membership-working together-belonging-trust

  • Motivation must be individualized to each client

  • We are seeking diversity in members and participants

  • We are using cutting edge technology to achieve optimal results

This group is my final contribution to the advancement of excellence I have focused on for nearly 50 years as an athlete and scholar.


You can hedge your bet and do things that might make you slightly better, but to reach big goals and fulfill your dreams, you have to take the risk of doing things that can make you a lot better.


Do you seek greatness?


Light switches have lulled us into false expectations that success can be easy. But to be a successful person you must master rubbing two sticks together.


Can you be disciplined?


You know the people in your life that you can count on. Rest assured, their love is greater than their fear. Just ask a parent.


Do you have courage?


Are you ready to take the next steps?



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