What keeps some people consistently moving toward their goals while others lose steam? How can you create lasting motivation that builds on itself?
In their book Willpower, Roy Baumeister and John Tierney explain that there’s a powerful connection between progress and motivation. When these elements work together, they create a motivation cycle that can help you achieve long-term success.
Keep reading to discover how tracking your progress and celebrating small wins can transform your journey toward any goal.
The Cycle of Motivation
One way to minimize your willpower use is to keep yourself motivated. Baumeister and Tierney say that the real secret isn’t getting motivated but rather staying motivated over the long term. Fortunately, you can use motivation and work to create a loop, each feeding into the other to form a largely self-perpetuating cycle.
To begin this motivation cycle, consider the reason behind whatever goals you set. Perhaps you want to improve your health or self-image, make a positive change in the world, or simply have some fun. Whatever it is, that reason can give you the initial motivation to take action. Unfortunately, that motivation doesn’t last forever, which is why it’s so common for people to start new projects and then lose steam after a short time.
(Shortform note: If you’re having trouble finding the motivation to start (or restart) something you need to do, another option is to start small. As Mark Manson says in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, doing something—anything—to make progress will help you overcome your urge to procrastinate and will make the rest of that task seem easier. For example, if you have to write a long report or essay, you might start by setting a goal to write just the first sentence. Once you’ve broken through your procrastination by taking that first step, continuing to work on it won’t seem so daunting.)
To help you stay on task over the long term, Baumeister and Tierney point out that, when you notice that you’ve made tangible progress toward a goal, it boosts your motivation to keep working. This increased motivation then drives you to put forth more effort, leading to further progress, and so on. Therefore, the secret to staying motivated is to come up with highly visible ways to track your progress toward your goals and to celebrate small milestones.
For example, if you’re trying to lose a large amount of weight, you might weigh yourself every day and use a simple spreadsheet to track the dates and your weight. You could then treat yourself to a small gift for, say, every five or 10 pounds you lose.
(Shortform note: This motivation cycle is the result of a chemical in your brain called dopamine. In The Molecule of More, the authors explain that making progress toward something you want causes your brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that creates feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. This natural reward system encourages you to repeat those goal-directed actions in the future. In short, because of dopamine, progress leads to pleasure, which in turn motivates further progress, creating the motivation loop that Baumeister and Tierney describe.)
