It’s not the first motivation to act, but the first action to be motivated…
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “SusanKuang” (ID: Susankuang 2014) by Susan Kuang.
Ask you a question: What do you think is the relationship between motivation and action, is it motivated, then has action, or does it have action before it has motivation?
I believe that most people may choose the former, and it is natural to think that power must exist before action. Only by finding the motivation and being able to act can it be possible to stick to one thing. Therefore, when you don’t feel the power, everyone always thinks that you must first find the power, can’t find the power, and you can only let yourself delay.
However, is this really the case? actually not. Although long-term persistence does not depend on motivation, because it is difficult to maintain an act and cultivate it into a habit for a long time, but the motivation does not have to exist before action, but can be created through action. That is to say, as long as we have the means to let ourselves act first, we can actively create momentum without motivation.
In fact, if we want to stick to something for a long time, we must not be limited by our own feelings. We only act when we feel motivated, because the feeling itself is unstable, but Have the ability to transcend the limits of feelings, rely on willpower to act when there is no motivation, and then develop motivation in action.
In this article today, we will talk about the principles of power generation and how to create momentum in the course of action.
Power comes from a sense of accomplishment
Speaking of motivation, many people may have had such confusion: Why are some things that are quite motivated at first, but disappeared when they are doing the motivation? To explain this, we simply have to understand what the motivation is and the factors behind the dynamics.
Power, in a nutshell, is an inner desire for “want” that drives us to the desired goal.Working hard, and the reason we have a desire for a certain goal is undoubtedly because we feel that it can bring some kind of “benefit” to ourselves. This expectation of interest is the source of motivation, and the higher the expectation, the stronger the momentum we feel.
So, is it as long as we feel that a certain goal is valuable and can bring some kind of “benefit” to ourselves, and we will be motivated to act?
This is not the case, because in addition to the value of the target itself, our motivation is influenced by another factor, that is, the possibility of success, or in other words, do we believe that we have the ability to do this thing? to make. If the probability of success is low, even if the “benefit” is big, we will not have the motivation to act. I have to say that the design of the brain is very savvy – if the hope of success is very embarrassing, why bother to waste energy to try?
Speaking of this, we understand that there are two main factors behind the influence of dynamics: one is the “benefit” (value) we can get from it, and the second is how likely we are to succeed (success probability) . This is known in psychology as Expectancy Theory, which is currently the most widely accepted motivation theory.
However, it is worth mentioning that the “value” and “success probability” mentioned here belong to the subjective judgment of the brain. This judgment is not fixed, but will change according to the actual situation.
Before the action started, we are usually very optimistic, because at this time, we are thinking about the scene after the goal is successfully realized, and we don’t think about the difficulties that we might encounter next. And challenges. These wonderful illusions about success will make us very excited and full of motivation.
However, our brain is very smart, it has a powerful automatic learning ability: it will constantly compare the real experience with the expected experience in the course of action, and based on the new experience, the value of this thing and the probability of success Make adjustments.
If in the course of action, we don’t get the results we expect – it’s probably because the difficulty and the challenge are too big to do well, or it’s because the progress is too slow, and the result is too Far away – we will feel a sense of loss, even frustration. These negative feelings will make us doubt about the value of this matter, our ability, and the possibility of achieving it.
At this point, the brain will lower the value of this thing and the probability of success based on these new feedbacks, and the motivation we feel will also diminish. If the brain has been receiving similar negative feedback, we will find that we are becoming less and less interested in this matter and have been procrastinating.
Let’s look at the opposite situation: if we work hard, we get the results we expect,Then the brain will release dopamine to strengthen your judgment. At this time, we will have a sense of accomplishment, and will also have a feeling of self-goodness, because it makes us believe that we are capable, we can Made this thing.
To be honest, In this world, nothing is more addictive than the feeling of self-goodness. As long as we feel this feeling, we will want to get it again. This is what we continue to do. Power.
From this perspective, motivation is actually a result—a result that naturally occurs when we experience the joy of success and progress. Therefore, as long as we can continue to achieve a sense of accomplishment and self-satisfaction in action, then the momentum will not disappear, and even become stronger and stronger. Even if we don’t have much interest at the beginning, we will slowly like it. On this matter, and develop the inner motivation.
How to create a sense of accomplishment
I guess, at this time you will definitely think: the sense of accomplishment sounds very good, but the sense of accomplishment is what I want to have?
This is true, but you never know that you have this choice, and you don’t know how to create it.
In essence, the so-called sense of accomplishment is a kind of psychological satisfaction that we get when we succeed in achieving the results we expect by doing what we think is important. sense.
A lot of people may feel that if they want to achieve a sense of accomplishment, they must achieve some very good achievements, but in fact, for the brain, the sense of accomplishment is only related to whether the results they expect are reached, and the result It doesn’t matter how much it sounds.
For a simple example, if you only expect yourself to recite 20 new words today, you will be able to experience a sense of accomplishment, but if you expect to carry 50, but only 20, then At this point you will feel that you are failing, and therefore feel depressed and blame. In both scenarios, the result in reality is exactly the same – 20 new words are backed up, but you get a completely different feeling because of the different expectations in your mind.
After understanding this truth, you should be able to understand why I say “the sense of accomplishment can be created,” because the sense of accomplishment depends on whether we can achieve the desired result in the mind, and this expectation It is our ability to control, that is, as long as the expectations in our minds are reasonable, then the acquisition of a sense of accomplishment is no longer a problem.
So, what kind of expectation can be regarded as “reasonable expectation”? In a nutshell, what you expect must be in line with the objective laws of the development of things, or in other words, what you do must be in your study area (Growth Zone).There are certain challenges, but the challenges are not too great, so that you won’t panic or have no way to start, and then wait until this thing becomes your Comfort Zone and then challenge.
To be honest, many people often feel frustrated in the course of their actions, because they don’t know how to set reasonable expectations for themselves. They don’t overestimate their existing abilities, they are eager to seek success, and they walk. If you didn’t learn, you were anxious to run, or even want to fly.
When we always have high expectations for ourselves and always use high standards to demand and judge ourselves, we will of course live in frustration. What’s more, continuous frustration will make us lose confidence and our mobility will become worse and worse.
However, in addition to learning to set reasonable expectations, knowing commitment and focus is also extremely important for a sense of accomplishment. Because everything you want to do is inseparable from commitment and focus. Otherwise, we are very It is easy to fall into suspicion and confusion when not in time, and a lot of time and energy will be consumed unnecessarily. Commitment to us is actually a certainty of direction. With this certainty, we will not always waver, but will be able to focus on action.
How do you do it? I believe that the key is reflected in the choice and setting of goals.
Most people will habitually think from the perspective of “getting” when setting goals, but simply list the results they want or expect, but in my opinion, the goals It should be considered from the perspective of “paying”, that is, seeing the goal as a promise of giving, this commitment must be a thoughtful choice: once the goal is determined, this means that this Things are very important to me, I am willing to work hard and I am willing to suffer for it.
Forget the goal, focus on the system
Finally, share a very useful suggestion that not only helps us gain confidence and motivation in our actions, but also helps us achieve our goals more easily.
What is this suggestion? In fact, there are eight words – forget the goal, focus on the system, the specific point is, after clearing your goal, don’t always think about it, but forget it and then focus on the system.
The saying “Forget about the goals, focus on systems instead” is that I learned from the famous American blogger James Clear.Come. When I first read it, I couldn’t help but applaud it because I found out that I did it myself (the morning diary is my system), and this is the secret of my efficient action, but only James summed it up in a very simple way.
About the difference between goals and systems, James explains this: The goal is about the results you want to achieve, and the system is about the process of bringing you to those results (Goals are About the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the process that lead to those results).
If you are a coach and your goal is to win the game, then your system is to recruit players, find venues, and develop training methods;
If you are an entrepreneur and your goal is to get the company listed, then your system is to test product ideas, find competent employees, and design marketing solutions;
If you are a writer and your goal is to produce a bestseller, then your system is to ensure your passion for writing, to constantly export your content, improve your writing skills, and find a publishing house.
From Book Atomic Habits
The suggestion of “forgetting the goal” sounds a bit counterintuitive. You might ask: After forgetting the goal, can I still succeed?
We can simply compare the two situations:
If you are going to a speech contest, your goal is to win the championship.
The first situation is that you look at this goal very seriously, always thinking about winning the championship, so you are worried, every time the performance is not ideal, you will become very anxious, because you are afraid that you will fail ;
In the second case, you don’t think about how to win the championship. Instead, you put most of your energy into your daily training. Based on your well-planned training plan, you can improve your speaking level a little bit every day.
Now I ask you, in which case, the probability of success is higher? Needless to say, you will definitely choose the second.
Why do you focus on the goal, but make the goal harder to achieve? The truth is actually very simple. As I said before, motivation and self-confidence come from a sense of accomplishment. The sense of accomplishment depends on whether you can achieve the results you expect. If you always think about your goals, you will not be conscious.Take it to judge your performance at this time, this contrast will make any progress in front of you seem insignificant, so you will have a sense of frustration. After such a frustration experience, you will lose confidence in yourself and the motivation will be lost.
The effect of focusing on the system is exactly the opposite. A good system is like a well-designed game – the goal is broken down into small tasks, each task is just as difficult as it is challenging, not to let You feel panic and anxiety, and every time you complete a task, you can feel a sense of accomplishment. This kind of feeling will make you more and more interested in this matter, and you will have more and more confidence in yourself.
In this process, you don’t think about how far you are from the final goal, but you can focus on every task in the moment, because the process itself is happy and fulfilling. After waiting for a task to complete one task, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that the goal is achieved without knowing it.
However, what we need to understand is that such a system will not be automatically generated after the target is set, but we need to design it ourselves. The process of design is actually what we usually say. “Because the essence of the plan is to realize the process of thinking and planning goals, that is, how to make a complex abstract goal, step by step, until it becomes an executable task with moderate difficulty.
From this perspective, we will find that planning is not a simple and easy task, but requires us to make a lot of thinking and judgment – not only to think and judge the methods of doing things and the key tasks, Also make a reasonable estimate of your actual ability. Only in this way can we truly focus on the system, and we can continue to reap the sense of accomplishment and self-confidence in the course of action, and step by step toward the goal we want in fulfilling and satisfying.
Finally, a brief summary:
How to create and maintain motivation
1. Power comes from a sense of accomplishment
In this world, nothing is more addictive than the feeling of self-goodness brought about by achievement and progress. As long as we feel this feeling, we will want to have it again. This is what we continue to do. power. Therefore, the key to staying motivated is to give yourself a sense of accomplishment.
2, how to achieve a sense of accomplishment
A sense of accomplishment is a kind of psychological satisfaction that we get when we succeed in achieving what we expect by working hard on what we think is important. It only relates to whether the expected result has been reached, and it does not matter how much the result sounds so good.
I want to have more sense of accomplishment. On the one hand, we must regard the goal as a commitment to investment. After we have set our goals, we must strengthen our choices so that we will not waver in the face of difficulties. To waste precious spiritual energy on suspicion and entanglement; on the other hand, we need to learn to manage our own expectations in the course of action, and to ensure that our expectations are in line with the objective development of the things themselves.
3. Forget the goal, focus on the system
After clarifying the goal, forget about it and focus on the system—the process that takes us to the desired outcome .
Of course, the system won’t be generated automatically after the goal is set, but it needs to be carefully designed by way of planning. The essence of the plan is the process of thinking and planning goals. Through reasonable planning, we can turn a complex abstract goal into a just-performing executable task, and then continue to reap the sense of accomplishment and self-confidence in the course of action, step by step toward our goal in fulfilling and satisfying. .