Nearly everyone can relate to having days when you need extra motivation – or extra cups of coffee – to get through your work. On these days, it can take all you have to get the bare minimum done, and “going the extra mile” on any of your work tasks is out of the question. These days can set you back if you experience them too often.
“Effective self-motivation is one of the main things that distinguishes high-achieving professionals from everyone else,” writes Ayelet Fishbach, whose team spent 20 years researching human motivation. And although the researchers found that motivation is highly personal (i.e. what works for you may not work for me), they uncovered four tactics that generally work well for most people, most of the time.
In this article, Fishbach dives deep into each of these strategies and provides tools you can use whenever your motivation slumps. From rethinking goal setting to identifying rewards, these subtle and not so subtle mind shifts can propel you toward your longterm goals – no coffee required.
