Yeah, I can see that. Kind of like boasting to make sure that if you give up—you’ll have embarrassed yourself by making a liar out of yourself.
I’ve done that myself, and sometimes it works.. I’ve finished NaNoWriMo three times through that technique (amongst others) :)
I can understand it as a mind-hack… but it’s one that doesn’t work as well, for me, as others do. I also only tend to use it when the goal is something short-term. If something’s really a long-term interest for me, I don’t need to convince myself to work on it through social pressure.
...and election promises don’t always work either… then you end up with “non core promises” and post-hoc rationalisation over why you didn’t manage to get this one done this time… and I tend to think that is often more poisonous in the long run. At least for me.
Once you allow yourself to fail after promising yourself convincingly that you’d definitely do X… it makes it easier to flake out in future.
If I go for goal-based motivation strategies, I much prefer the “visualise yourself having achieved something you want” techniques instead. Still a goal-based technique, but I think more effective than making election promises, because it’s a way of hooking into your positive motivators—carrot instead of stick. and the fallout from failing, or even just falling-behind schedule—aren’t as catastrophic. Fall behind on a stick-based motivation and you get the stick… and then what? The motivator’s already spent. Fall behind on a carrot-based motivator, and the carrot is still there for you.
Of course, maybe the election promise does hook into the “visualise” method… though it’s generally used to try and motivate other people to do what you want...
Hmmm—probably diving too deeply into a detail :)
Anyway—yeah, I can totally understand how they work. I even use them myself—mainly for things that I don’t want to do but must (eg working for money) or for jump-starting me to get out of a rut… after which natural motivation takes over again.
I just find that natural motivation and interest is more powerful than any of the artificial ones I’ve ever used.
Yeah, I can see that. Kind of like boasting to make sure that if you give up—you’ll have embarrassed yourself by making a liar out of yourself.
I’ve done that myself, and sometimes it works.. I’ve finished NaNoWriMo three times through that technique (amongst others) :)
I can understand it as a mind-hack… but it’s one that doesn’t work as well, for me, as others do. I also only tend to use it when the goal is something short-term. If something’s really a long-term interest for me, I don’t need to convince myself to work on it through social pressure.
...and election promises don’t always work either… then you end up with “non core promises” and post-hoc rationalisation over why you didn’t manage to get this one done this time… and I tend to think that is often more poisonous in the long run. At least for me.
Once you allow yourself to fail after promising yourself convincingly that you’d definitely do X… it makes it easier to flake out in future.
If I go for goal-based motivation strategies, I much prefer the “visualise yourself having achieved something you want” techniques instead. Still a goal-based technique, but I think more effective than making election promises, because it’s a way of hooking into your positive motivators—carrot instead of stick. and the fallout from failing, or even just falling-behind schedule—aren’t as catastrophic. Fall behind on a stick-based motivation and you get the stick… and then what? The motivator’s already spent. Fall behind on a carrot-based motivator, and the carrot is still there for you.
Of course, maybe the election promise does hook into the “visualise” method… though it’s generally used to try and motivate other people to do what you want...
Hmmm—probably diving too deeply into a detail :)
Anyway—yeah, I can totally understand how they work. I even use them myself—mainly for things that I don’t want to do but must (eg working for money) or for jump-starting me to get out of a rut… after which natural motivation takes over again. I just find that natural motivation and interest is more powerful than any of the artificial ones I’ve ever used.