Work ethic is what helps motivate and drive your son. A work ethic is usually learned rather than innate. It is about his motivation to get a job done, be it a physical task, schoolwork, or something else he is interested in for pleasure.

Success and Failure

Your son will need a good role model to learn about success. Ideally, that would be you. You should show him that working hard to reach a goal is admirable. Your son also needs to know that as he works toward his goals, failure will happen. The key to making a failure into something positive is through the lessons learned. He will learn to gauge when to push himself harder to accomplish a goal.

If your son finds he likes the taste of success, he will try harder to obtain success in everything he does. He will carry this work ethic into his adult life. You cannot step in and save him. He needs to learn to deal with his own struggles, with you on the sidelines.

Waning Motivation

As your son becomes a teen, you may find that a previously good student is now not so interested in his studies. This is a fairly typical scenario.

As your son grows, you lose the ability to control when or how he works on his school projects. It is time for your son to figure out how to get his tasks done on time and on his own terms. He will have to suffer from natural consequences if he does not do his work. He will learn, through his own work ethic, what it takes to complete tasks. This doesn't mean you shouldn't be supportive. He absolutely needs the tools to be successful, and it is your job to provide them — be they paper and pens or helpful advice and constructive criticism.

Once your son has found out what works for him, let him continue on his own. You will find that once he discovers what works for him or zeroes in on something that excites him, he will be much better off. He will motivate himself.