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Question: James (1899) discusses in his chapter about will that ideas come into our consciousness, yet many times we do not act on these thoughts. I know that often students think about their homework, so what are ways that we as educators can teach students to go ahead and do their homework while they are thinking about it instead of putting it off for later? (or not at all)

Passage: James (1899) states, “In either of these latter cases it is hard to hold the right idea steadily enough before the attention to let it exert its adequate effects. Whether it be stimulative or inhibitive, it is too reasonable for us; and the more instinctive passional propensity then tends to extrude it from our consideration. Why shy away from the thought of it. (p .90).

Personal experience: This quote reminds me of my personal strive to get more accomplished in my day. I think a lot of it goes back to the idea of habit forming that James discussed in previous chapters. I have formed habits of being unproductive and spending a lot of my time sitting around thinking about what I want to get accomplished, instead of actually doing it. A better term to describe my thinking about what I want to get accomplished is procrastination. I am aware that I have the ability to be more productive, but I have developed this bad habit of just sitting there and thinking about it. James (1899) discusses that, “In either of these latter cases it is hard to hold the right idea steadily enough before the attention to let it exert its adequate effects” (p. 90). From James, I have realized that when I am given the opportunity to do something productive, I often think about it for a long period of time when I could actually be doing it. Usually the activity I am spending my time doing is often much easier than whatever I should have been doing.

Connection: Later, James (1899) states that, “To think, in short, is the secret of the will” (p. 91). He later explains that this is very evident with our students when that they say things like, “I never thought” (p. 91). So how do we get our students to think? Instead of punishing them for not thinking, we should initiate ways for them to think about their thinking (introspection). Have the students think about the times in which they think about doing certain things, such as homework and not getting away from the thought of the particular idea. Wouldn’t it just be easier to get the homework completed at the time you are thinking about it, instead of having to re-think about it later? I think it helps the students if you can put yourself in their shoes, in order to help them problem solve and work towards particular goals. It is all about relating to the students and fostering them to think! After all, James (1899) states, “to think, in short is the secret of the will, just as it is the secret to the memory” (p. 90).