Get It Done

When you’re tempted to add an incentive to an existing goal, take a moment to ponder whether that incentive will serve you well. Is it going to pull you even further toward the goal, or is it going to obscure the purpose of your action and move you away from it?

The basic tenet of self-perception theory is that we learn about ourselves in the same way that we learn about others: by observing and explaining our own actions to ourselves. If you saw me walking my dog, you would conclude that I’m a dog lover. By the same logic, if you find yourself walking a dog (and having a good time), you would conclude tha

When creating your own targets, first think through what type of number would serve you best. Is it an amount or a time? And if it is an amount, what’s the easiest unit of measurement to monitor?

you don’t select a goal to point you in a specific direction, you’re likely to move in circles.

This study explains why multipurpose items often end up serving no purpose at all—we’d rather a pen just be a pen.

To maximize your intrinsic motivation, you also need to understand what it’s not. For one, intrinsic motivation is not limited to resolving curiosity.

To increase your chances of following through on a goal, you can start by answering the following questions: How can you make pursuing a goal more immediately rewarding? You could, for example, introduce music, podcasts, or audiobooks to your exercise routine. What is the most fun path to pursuing your goals? You could, for example, choose to join

Two classic theories in social psychology make a similar point about how engagement generates commitment. First, Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory. This theory posits that when our behavior doesn’t coincide with our beliefs, we change our beliefs to match the behavior. As humans, we don’t like saying one thing and doing another. So we tr

Imagine you could be totally invisible for twenty-four hours. No one would see you, hear you, or feel you, so you could easily get away with anything. What would you do?