mastery & motivation

You resolve to make a change for the better in your life. You tell your friends about it. You put your resolution in writing. You actually make the change. It works. It feels good. You’re happy about it. Your friends are happy about it. Your life is better.

And then, you backslide.

Why? Are you some kind of slob who has no willpower?

From George Leonard’s Mastery

Not necessarily. Backsliding is a universal experience.

You can attribute it to the Motivation Wave.

See BJ Fogg on Motivation Wave

What is a motivation wave? A motivation wave represents the natural high and lows that people experience with their motivation as time goes by.

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Time

In the book Mastery, George Leonard describes four archetypes to doing anything. The dabbler, the obsessive, the hacker and the master.

The Dabbler starts with enthusiasm, makes rapid progress but then gives up after the first falloff in performance and plateau. Then he is off to the next thing.

The Hacker gets a hang of something and then happily stays on the plateau forever.

The Obsessive starts with robust progress. When faced with a plateau, he redoubles efforts. This leads to sharp highs and lows until the big drop-off.

The Master stays on the path to mastery. He sees brief bursts of progress, each of which is followed by a slight decline to a plateau higher than the one before.

From George Leonard’s Mastery

Instead of seeing these as fixed types, we can see them as different modes. We dabble, we obsess, we hack and on occasion, we master different things. These curves then reflect the shapes of our motivation waves.

Can we anticipate motivation waves? If we can, we can also buffet ourselves against the lows. Following is what I think.

Initiation starts with a dissonance event

A dissonance event is something that gives you a new perspective on something you want to do, but is at odds with your current approach to it. It can be something as simple as tweet asking you to do a neck stretch, to something as life changing as marriage or death. The magnitude of motivation is directly proportional to the gravity of the event.

INITIATION

Continuation happens when expectations are met

If the results are up to our expectations our motivation is maintained. For example, if tennis game improves as expected, the motivation level is maintained.

CONTINUATION

Amplification happens with breakthroughs and breakdowns

AMPLIFICATION

When we hit a breakthrough, the wave is amplified. Often a breakdown leads to increased resolve and will also amplifies it.

Decline happens due to plateaus

DECLINE

Plateaus represent moments where you are not making expected progress and feel stuck. This might cause a steady decrease in motivation.

Fall-offs happen due to extended plateaus. They may also happen due to breakdowns and even successes

FALL-OFF

When people are stuck on a plateau for a while, their motivation may see a steep dip. Breakdowns, while they can amplify can also attenuate. Interestingly, when people have reached a level they are satisfied with, their motivation may also drop.

Don’t fight the wave. Ride the wave. Knowing that such waves are natural, the only way to be on the path to mastery, or sustained behavior change, is to ride these waves and not fight them. Three good pieces of advice from the work of BJ Fogg & George Leonard. Take a step back. BJ Fogg says that ability, not motivation is the key to behavior change. When your motivation is low, do something easier and simpler. For example, run 10 minutes instead of 30. Build a support system. We are social animals. As George Leonard says ‘you can do it alone, but it helps a great deal to have other people with whom you share the joys and perils of the change you are making’. Make it a habit. This is not as easy as it sounds but it relates back to taking a step back. As long as you keep doing something you will find an upswing in the motivation wave.

Essential Reading Behaviour Design Principles by BJ Fogg Mastery by George Leonard

Send feedback this way: Ashish Goel @ashpodel