“We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal.” – The Bhagavad Gita
Hey, welcome back.
I’ve got a crazy-useful little life optimization cued up for you below, but first:
I’m working at a retreat this weekend, so this will be our final fresh email of the week.
(and we’ll drop our weekly greatest hit tomorrow, instead of on Saturday)
The good news:
When I get back on Tuesday / Wednesday, we’ll finally begin our lessons in Self Design, in advance of the upcoming course drop on December 11th.
And it will be well worth the wait 🙂
In the meantime, here’s a simple way to motivate yourself no matter how un-motivated you feel.
…
The Carrot vs The Stick
Which works better:
The carrot, or the stick?
Should we use the dream of achieving our goals as motivation (the carrot)…
…Or, drive ourselves forwards with the fear of failing (the stick)?
Place your bets now, I’ll wait.
.
..
…Okay, ready?
If you guessed the carrot, you’re wrong.
And if you guessed the stick?
Also wrong.
Turns out, both are required for optimal motivation — but not in the way you might think.
(you knew this would be a trick question, didn’t you?)
Here’s what the science says:
When we’re already feeling motivated and can’t wait to get after it — the carrot; ie. the dream of achieving our goals — will stoke that motivation to a blaze.
No stick required.
But when we’re not feeling motivated and need to light a fire under ourselves — the stick; ie. your fear of failing — is the kindling that will create the flame.
So the rule is:
Feeling good, use the carrot (your vision for what you want).
Feeling not-good, use the stick (your fear of what you don’t want).
I don’t know about you, but I find that crazy useful.
Yes, discipline (doing what you need to do no matter how you feel about it)…
…Is far more important than motivation (how you feel about doing what you need to do).
But a motivated mind produces better work, so if you’re going to discipline yourself to do the work either way, you might as well motivate yourself while you’re at it.
As a bonus tip:
Try writing to yourself for ~3-5 minutes when you sit down to work, matching your mood to your source of motivation.
On carrot days, write about your goal in as much detail as you can — stoke the fire until it sends you flying into your tasks for the day.
On stick days, write about what will happen if you don’t achieve your goal, and how not doing the work you need to do may lead to failure.
You can use visualization if you prefer, but I find writing helps to focus the mind and bring visualizations to life.
Good luck 🙂
…
Alright, that’s a wrap for this week!
Greatest hits coming tomorrow.
Have an awesome one over there, and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday or Wednesday for Self Design.
I can’t wait.
– T
