working hard, a willingness to pick learning tasks with much difficulty, and attributing success to effort. Achievement motivation was studied intensively by David C. McClelland, John W. Atkinson and their colleagues since the early 1950s. This type of motivation is a drive that is developed from an emotional state. One may feel the drive to achieve by striving for success and avoiding failure. In achievement motivation, one would hope that they excel in what they do and not think much about the failures or the negatives. Their research showed that business managers who were successful demonstrated a high need to achieve no matter the culture. There are three major characteristics of people who have a great need to achieve according to McClelland's research. They would prefer a work environment in which they are able to assume responsibility for solving problems. They would take a calculated risk and establish moderate, attainable goals. They want to hear continuous recognition, as well as feedback, in order for them to know how well they are doing. Cognitive theories Cognitive theories define motivation in terms of how people think about situations. Cognitive theories of motivation include goal-setting theory and expectancy theory. Goal-setting theory Goal-setting theory is based on the idea that individuals have a drive to reach a clearly defined end state. Often, this end state is a reward in itself. A goal's efficiency is affected by three features: proximity, difficulty, and specificity. One common goal setting methodology incorporates the SMART criteria, in which goals are: specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Time management is an important aspect, when regarding time as a contributing factor to goal achievement. Having too much time allows for distraction and procrastination, which also serves as a distraction to the subject by steering their attention away from the original goal. An ideal goal should present a situation where the time between the beginning of the effort and the end state is close. With an overly restricting time restraint, the subject could potentially feel overwhelmed, which could deter the subject from achieving the goal because the amount of time provided is not sufficient or rational. This explains why some children are more motivated to learn how to ride a bike than to master algebra. A goal should be moderate, not too hard, or too easy to complete. Most people are not optimally motivated, as many want a challenge (which assumes some