Goal Pursuit: 7 Tools to Make It Easier and More Effective - From Andrew Huberman, associate professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine
Once you have specified your goal and outlined the necessary action steps, use tools 1-7. They will help you to stay motivated and reach your goal.
Placing a note on the mirror that exclaims “floss!” or “run today!” might be motivating at first, but likely, after a few days, you fail to “see” this visual reminder anymore. The brain monitors for anything new in our environment. But it doesn’t call our attention to the day-to-day similarities. A static visual reminder will fail to trigger action. Instead, write a new note every few days and post it in a different location.
Yes failure. If you feel motivated before the work session, spend one to three minutes visualizing the positive outcomes of goal success as well as goal failure. Do this to sustain motivation through your work bout. On unmotivated days, spend one to three minutes visualizing the failure of not achieving your goal. That is, visualize the negative outcome. Humans will work very hard to avoid feelings of failure. This visualization exercise focuses on feelings of failure. It will recruit neurochemicals, like adrenaline, to boost your levels of arousal and focus.
Maintaining mental focus is strongly anchored to the visual system. Use a visual target strategy. Narrow the “cone” of your visual attention to a specific object or point in front of you. Hold it in your gaze for 30-90 seconds. Dr. Emily Balcetis and colleagues have shown that this exercise increases alertness and autonomic arousal in the brain and body. It also helps to build and sustain motivation.
Tip: Relax your gaze and look off to the horizon when you finish working. This “turns off” the release of chemicals associated with alertness and arousal and will aid in relaxation.
During your work bouts, put your phone out of reach or turn on airplane mode. Both task-switching and procrastinating can eat up your work time. Task-switching is when you look at your phone between bouts of work. Procrastinating is when you look at your phone right before starting the work.
Motivation and the associated neurochemical dopamine have been the topic of many Huberman Lab episodes. In brief, consistently receiving rewards diminishes the reward’s power and reduces overall motivation. In contrast, only rewarding yourself at the finish line (~12 weeks) also reduces motivation.
The solution? Use random, intermittent rewards (like a slot machine) to maintain motivation. After your goal work, flip a coin: heads = reward vs. tails = no reward.
On a reward day, try using positive self-talk. Do it for 30-60 seconds to reinforce the neural circuits associated with internal motivation. Treat yourself to a physical reward from time to time. For example, watch a movie or eat a food you enjoy!
People tend to be highly motivated to start and finish a goal. But motivation often declines in the middle. To overcome the middle problem:
- Acknowledge this is a normal phenomenon
- Use time chunking to break-up the middle portion into 3-4 smaller time segments
There are specific times during the day that are for optimal goal work. Dr. Pablo Valdez describes three peak times each day when our attention and focus are at their highest. As a rough guide, 30 minutes, 3 hours, and 11 hours after you wake up are great times for hard work. This happens because of the body’s circadian rhythm (sleep-wake cycle) and rhythmicity of body temperature and associated neurochemicals.