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The Motivation Machine: How to Get & Stay Motivated for Any Goal - Nat Eliason
Getting Motivated to Start a Project
- Increase your reason to start a project, by increasing the value of starting it.
- Increase your expectancy of succeeding at that project.
- Decrease your reasons to delay, by increasing urgency, using a deadline.
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IDEA EXTRACTED FROM:
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Key Ideas
Albert Einstein
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
The Dip
Extraordinary benefits accrue to the tiny minority of people who are able to push just a tiny bit longer than most.
The Start before the Dip
The Start is a much bigger problem since you can’t reach The Dip if you don’t get through The Start, and many more people fantasize about doing something than actually do it and give up.
Motivation management
When you’re sufficiently motivated to accomplish something, you’ll move heaven and earth to do it.
Motivation Defined
Motivation is “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way,” or rephrased, “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.”
Ericsson & Poole
Getting Motivated to Start a Project
- Increase your reason to start a project, by increasing the value of starting it.
- Increase your expectancy of succeeding at that project.
- Decrease your reasons to delay, by increasing urgency, using a deadline.
A commitment Device
Many people use a commitment device or game their surroundings to get and stay motivated.
You can physically help your goal by things like throwing away your junk food, only showering at the gym so that you go there, and similar activities aimed at focussing on your goal. People also use public commitments in social media to stay motivated by peer pressure.
Stay Motivated
Set small, incremental goals that are sufficiently exciting to be motivating and for which you have a reasonable expectation of completing.
How To Keep Going
- Maintain your sense of Expectancy in the project using small wins and accomplishments.
- Reward yourself.
- Maintain a sense of value by finding a way to remind yourself of the bigger picture of the small, everyday bouts of effort.
- Build positive habits.
- Find flow.
- Set clear follow-on goals.
- Maintain energy.
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The essence of motivation
Every choice has a price, but when we are motivated, it is easier to bear the inconvenience of action than the pain of remaining the same.
In other words, at some point, it becomes more...
Active inspiration
Motivation is often the result of action, not the cause of it. Getting started, even in very small ways, is a form of active inspiration that naturally produces momentum.
The Physics of productivity
Newton’s First Law applied to habit formation: Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.
Once a task has begun, it is easier to continue moving it forward. In other words, it is often easier to finish a task than it was to start it in the first place.
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Force yourself to do things
Our mind has muscles. It memorizes patterns. By doing this over and over, you're building your willpower and self-discipline.
Forcing yourself to do things...
Focus on the emotional reward
Focus on the feeling you feel after doing something that you know is good for you.
- The adrenaline rush.
- The feeling of being fit and healthy.
- The relief you feel after having finished a big project.
- The pride you gain from an accomplishment.
- The confidence you feel after having faced your fear.
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Taking action = eventual success
Inaction is the biggest cause of our failures and our miseries. If we could consistently do the things we know we should do, we would be more successful, and our lives would be better. Yet w...
Explaining inaction
Some possible but weak reasons why action is hard:
- Talent. But the world is full of brilliant stars that flame out and mediocre minds that build empires.
- Preferences can explain our failure to try, but don't explain our inner struggles with inaction.
- Capacity for effort. If your capacity for doing things is lower, it does not explain chronic bursts of activity with inevitable crashes in your goals and projects.
- Motivation. Some people with the most reason have the hardest time taking action.
Confidence
- Your motivation to complete a task depends on the value of the reward and your expectation of success.
- Your expectation of success depends on your motivation.
If your projects tend to fail, your expectations are low, and motivation fades. If your projects tend to succeed, your expectations go up, and motivation stays strong.
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