Motivation is huge with me. I also work as a personal trainer, and in a physical therapy clinic, and have found that different people are motivated in different ways by different things. However, one thing that I have found works best with almost everyone is positive reinforcement. If an "A" student happens to do poorly on a quiz, I remind them that quizzes do not count as much toward their final grade, so it will not affect it as much, and that there will be other opportunities to make up for it. Same type of thing as a personal trainer; if a client or patient has a bad day and does not perform up to their expectations, I remind them to look at the big picture, that we all have good days/bad days, ups and downs. Those trying to lose weight who get discouraged because they didn't lose anything this week need to be reminded of how much they've lost over the last six weeks. Look at the big picture, not one incident.