Smarter Faster Better

Self-help books and leadership manuals often portray self-motivation as a static feature of our personality or the outcome of a neurological calculus in which we subconsciously compare efforts versus rewards.

When people believe they are in control, they tend to work harder and push themselves more. They are, on average, more confident and overcome setbacks faster.

The first step in creating drive is giving people opportunities to make choices that provide them with a sense of autonomy and self-determination.

Motivation is triggered by making choices that demonstrate to ourselves that we are in control. The specific choice we make matters less than the assertion of control. It’s this feeling of self-determination that gets us going.

Studies show that someone’s locus of control can be influenced through training and feedback.

If you give people an opportunity to feel a sense of control and let them practice making choices, they can learn to exert willpower.

Moreover, to teach ourselves to self-motivate more easily, we need to learn to see our choices not just as expressions of control but also as affirmations of our values and goals.

As automation becomes more common, the risks that our attention spans will fail have risen.

Mental models help us by providing a scaffold for the torrent of information that constantly surrounds us. Models help us choose where to direct our attention, so we can make decisions, rather than just reacting.

“Cognitive tunneling” is a mental glitch that sometimes occurs when our brains are forced to transition abruptly from relaxed automation to panicked attention.

Cognitive tunneling can cause people to become overly focused on whatever is directly in front of their eyes or become preoccupied with immediate tasks.

When we encounter new information and want to learn from it, we should force ourselves to do something with the data.