Motivation: A simple trick to never lose it The first thing we’re told when we set goals
is to write them down in a clear and quantifiable way on a piece of paper,
so to always have them clearly in front of us, and to remind us every day as soon as we wake up,
and every night before going to sleep, of why we’re making sacrifices, whatever these goals are.
However, our most ambitious goals often require a lot of time and work to be attained,
and so the next step is fundamental: dividing each of our main goals into a series of small
objectives that are more easily reached, which allows us to monitor our progress step by step,
preventing us from falling into the discomfort many people fall into when
they only focus on the final goal, instead of on the necessary, often long process to reach it.
If you’ve never followed the process just described when you’ve set goals in the past,
I recommend that you do so. As trivial as it may seem, I assure you that by putting this simple
process into practice, you’ll immediately increase your productivity, and not just by a little.
But this isn’t the purpose of this video, rather the premise. Now we’ll see how to take this small
process to the next level, which will allow us in a very simple way to make a real leap in quality,
particularly helping us to not lose the enthusiasm and motivation we generally have at the beginning
of a new project, but often lose when the results aren’t what we hoped or are slow to arrive,
and we find ourselves inevitably abandoning what we started with so much hope halfway
through. And please, keep a piece of paper that you’ve written your goals on with you.
“The Prospect Theory” is a decision theory formulated by the Israeli psychologists
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in 1979. This theory provides a description of how individuals
behave when faced with a decision. The prospect theory focuses in particular on risky decisions.
For the purposes of this video I want to concentrate on the part concerning human
aversion to loss: for most individuals, the motivation to avoid a loss is far greater than
the motivation to achieve a win. This general psychological principle, which is probably
linked to a sort of survival instinct, makes sure that the same decision can give rise to
opposite choices if the outcomes are represented to the subject as losses rather than lost wins.
It was estimated that we humans are at least 2 times sadder when we undergo a loss then we are
happy for an equally sized win. This relationship however can grow from two up to 3-5 times bigger,
based on individuals’ capacity to accept loss. For example, a €100 loss will have a 3-5 times
higher emotional impact than a €100 will have a positive one.
When we set goals, we always tend to concentrate on the beneficial effects that they can have
on our life. For example, we go to the gym to sculpt our body and be more attractive. Or we
work hard to earn more money and buy the house of our dreams. Or we’ll even study a new language to
have new work opportunities. You get the idea. Now let’s turn to the piece of paper upon which
you wrote your goals, and alongside that one that’s completely blank. If, for example,
your goal was to lose 20 kilos by going to the gym 3 times a week and by following a healthy diet,
on the completely blank sheet write what you could lose if you continue not training
yourself by living a sedentary life and by eating unhealthy food. Concentrate not on the benefits,
but the losses: you’d probably gain more weight, you’d become less attractive,
your health would be affected with possible series of consequences in the future. Use the
same approach for any other goal you have, and ask yourself what you have to lose if you don’t
manage to achieve it. What you have to lose if you continue doing what you’ve always done
without improving yourself. For once, feel free to vent all your pessimism. Don’t cheat
by trying to memorise these potential negative effects, it’s important that you write them down!
Then keep this piece of paper always visible beside the original one, on which you wrote
your goals, and study them every morning as soon as you wake up and every night
before going to bed and sleep. By following this technique, you will use this prospect
theory and the human aversion to loss to your advantage to motivate yourself to never give up!
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