ABSTRACT
It will be no surprise to read that a thesis is a goal that you will have to persist with for a long period, and one that will take substantial energy and effort to achieve. In many ways a thesis can be likened to a long journey across terrain where you have never been before. You have a clear destination but you have little knowledge about the best path to get there. You are told to expect obstacles and problems on the way but you don’t know exactly what those problems and obstacles will be until you encounter them. It is a difficult journey that many more people start than finish. While each thesis journey is different, all share the need for students to manage their thinking, emotions and behaviour, in order to produce the necessary persistence and intensity of effort. In other words the thesis is as much a motivational journey as a journey of research and discovery. This chapter discusses what you can do to help develop and maintain your motivation as you travel the thesis journey.
