Why is it so hard to get started on homework?
"I'll just do one thing first."
And suddenly an hour has passed.
Most people probably recognise the situation. The task is sitting there, you know it needs doing, and it is still hard to begin.
What does research say about motivation to do schoolwork?
It is easy to think of motivation as something you either have or do not have. Either you are motivated and get going, or you are unmotivated and put it off. Research offers a more complicated picture.
When a student is given a task, several judgements are made, consciously or unconsciously: Is this important to me? Will I get anything out of it? Will it be enjoyable or interesting? How hard is it going to be? Can I actually manage it?
All of these questions affect how appealing the task feels.
A task may, for example, be important and at the same time feel so difficult that the student does not know where to start. Another task may be simple but feel meaningless. A third may be interesting but is competing with something that feels far more tempting at that moment.
Motivation is therefore not only about the student's willingness. It is also about what the task demands and what opportunities the student has to succeed at it.
Research indicates that motivation is influenced at several levels at once: the student's own interests, needs and experiences; relationships and the learning environment; the school's organisation and support; and the surrounding social and cultural setting.
That makes motivation considerably more interesting than a question of laziness or discipline.
The same homework, different conditions
Consider two students given exactly the same homework. One finds the task comprehensible, knows why it is to be done and knows how to begin. The other finds the task difficult, does not quite see the point of it and is unsure whether they will manage it. It is hardly surprising if the two students have entirely different motivation.
There is one more important point here: being able to carry out a task even when motivation is not at its peak is also a skill. Planning, getting started, maintaining focus and continuing when something feels boring or difficult are all part of what is usually described as self-regulated learning.
A more useful question
"How motivated is this student?" is a question that rarely leads anywhere.
"What makes it easy or hard for this student to get started and stay with the task?" is one you can act on.
That can be a far more useful question, because sometimes it is not the motivation that needs "fixing". It is the task that needs to be made clearer. Or broken into smaller steps. Or connected to something the student genuinely finds meaningful. Or the student needs access to a person, a structure or a strategy that makes it possible to move on.
When we begin to think about motivation in this way, homework is no longer only a question of the student's willingness to make an effort. It becomes a question of the meeting between student, task and learning environment – and that is where schools genuinely have great scope to make a difference.
Further reading
Miele, D. B., Fujita, K., & Scholer, A. A. (2024). The role of metamotivational knowledge in the regulation of motivation. Motivation Science, 10(3), 197–209. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000336
Wentzel, K. R., Muenks, K., & Lacey, C. (2016). Social influences on students' motivation. In K. R. Wentzel & D. B. Miele (Eds.), Handbook of motivation at school (2nd ed., pp. 139–163). Routledge.