Achieve Your Goals by Tapping on Intrinsic Motivation
If you struggle to achieve your personal or work goals, you can make much more rapid progress by being intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is one of the best predictors of deeply engaging in any activity. In the book Get It Done, Ayelet Fishbach skillfully peels the layers behind the science of motivation. What follows is a summary of a chapter from this book on intrinsic motivation.
Often new year resolutions fall short in achieving our goals because we are not excited about the activity itself but care more about the end goals. If you want to predict how much anyone sticks to a resolution, ask how excited they are to engage in it rather than how important the resolution seems to be. If you can make your path to your goal enjoyable, you will be intrinsically motivated. This idea is more important when you pursue goals that require you to do something that you don’t love doing. The solution is simple — be creative and make them more enjoyable to do.
What is intrinsic motivation?
Intrinsic motivation means “pursuing an activity that feels like an end in itself”. In other words, when you are intrinsically motivated you do something for the sheer pleasure of doing it. With that mindset, you cannot separate pursuing an activity from receiving its benefits. Eating a nice meal or…
