Motivation

Hey all,

I had planned to write a longer piece about motivation styles this week, but it felt a little preachy, especially for a topic I think people already understand.

Instead, here's what I wanted to say, just in 500 fewer words:

1. Internal Motivation is Easy to Have but Hard to Act Upon Consistently

• No matter what motivates you: passion, hunger, accomplishments, necessity, or even anger, the fundamental fact is: that you aren't designed to feel one way all the time. At some point, if you don't set up your environment correctly, you will end up burnt out, tired, and settling for a goal that was never exactly what you wanted.
• Point is, you have to develop structures that help carry you through the days you feel terrible. Whether you have a role model keeping you accountable, commit to mandatory work time, or develop that little voice in your head that says "You will die one day, you have to make the most of your life," every little thing counts.
  • Environment + Lifestyle > Waiting for random events to kick you into shape.

2. You Have to Stay Excited

• A huge part of creating a high-motivation lifestyle is about your mindset. How long can you stay excited? How long can you keep finding the wonder in what you're doing? How much do you like discovering your field's nuances, optimizations, and innovations?
  • These are the questions you should ask when deciding on a career. Not just do you like it, or are you good at it? But, do you truly like discovering every little thing about the subject? Can you be a lifelong learner?

3. Ingredients of a Highly Motivating Field, Job, or Task

• Still, not every job or field you work in is perfect. As mentioned in Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, you need "autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward" for a task to be satisfying.
  • For you to be autonomously working on a highly complex task is a godsend. Everyone can learn to love analyzing the complexities of something if the subject is something they love.
  • Still, humans are often only motivated by necessity - the need to make money, for example. Therefore, even if someone loves learning about a certain field, most cannot push that desire to the next level unless something vital to their survival is riding on it.
    • Key Idea: Add some stakes. Invest a semi-significant amount of your money or life into something and see yourself work much harder to achieve your goals.

See you next week,

-Ethan