One Simple Change To Boost Motivation
All it takes is a little perspective.
Takeaway: In the beginning of a long and difficult task, evaluate success by how much you’ve completed. As you near the end of a big project, shift your focus to how much you have left to go before you’re done. This will boost your motivation.
One Simple Change To Boost Motivation
In September of 2014 I ran a marathon.
It was gruesome. The greatest level of physical discomfort I’ve ever felt.
But it was a big mental battle too. After mile twenty I wanted to quit every step of the way. I told myself repeatedly, “You’ve already come this far. Only a few miles left.”
I’m glad I didn’t suffer so badly in the beginning of the race. It seems that, “You’ve only got twenty miles left,” doesn’t have the same motivational ring to it.
It turns out, research backs up this intuition.
When we set out to achieve a goal, how we measure our progress is pretty important. You can measure success by how far you’ve come, or by how far you have left to go before the finish line.
Research shows you can boost your motivation by focusing on whichever half of the pie is smaller.1
In other words, in the beginning of the race I would’ve been better off focusing on how many miles I’d already run. Then, in those last remaining miles, I should shift my focus to how far I have left to go.
These findings can be applied to all sorts of goals.
When you set a goal to lose twenty pounds, you’re better off focusing on how many pounds you’ve lost in the beginning—celebrating the first five, for example. Then once you’ve lost ten to fifteen pounds, begin to focus on how many pounds you have left to go before you reach your goal.
If you have a big project at work, one with lots of moving pieces, begin by focusing on how much you’ve already completed. Then, after about the halfway point, frame the project by those few items left before you reach the end.
Decide when to focus on how much you’ve accomplished versus how much is left by whichever is smaller.
This one small shift in perspective can drastically alter your levels of motivation to complete a task.
Try it for yourself.
~ Coach Alex
Koo, M., & Fishbach, A. (2012). The small-area hypothesis: Effects of progress monitoring on goal adherence. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(3), 493-509.