When we match ourselves with behaviors that we already want to do, not what we think we should do, there is no need to fuss with motivational tricks or techniques later. We take the Motivation Monkey out of commission.
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Motivation is often unreliable when it comes to home improvement. And itâs also unreliable with diets, exercise routines, creative projects, filing taxes, opening businesses, searching for jobs, planning conferencesâselfimprovement of all types. The Motivation Monkeyâs traps are stealthy and numerous. They catch you whether youâre facing a big project or attempting to change your habits.
Hereâs the unfortunate thingâmost people believe motivation is the true engine of behavior change. Words like ârewardsâ and âincentivesâ get thrown around with such regularity that most people think you can create whatever habits you want if you find the right carrot to dangle in front of yourself. This kind of thinking is understandable, but it also happens to be wrong.
Yes, motivation is one of three elements that drives behavior. The problem is that motivation is often fickle, and this chapter digs deeper into the challenges it presents.
Even more problematic is the fact that weâre blind to at least some of our motivation much of the time. We may not fully understand where the desire to eat a certain food is coming from. Do I really love the salty taste of popcorn, or does my daily popcorn habit stem from nostalgia for the days when my family and I used to eat it during movie night? Changing, invisible, competing, and conflicting motivations make this element of behavior hard to pin down and control. This makes us even more frustrated when we fail in our efforts to motivate ourselves or others to make lasting change.
In Behavior Design, weâve named this temporary surge in motivation the Motivation Wave. Iâm sure youâve experienced this before: Your motivation crested, then came crashing down. And maybe you blamed yourself for not sustaining it. Youâre not to blame. This is how motivation works in our lives.
Notice that Krieger and Systrom nailed the motivation component by choosing a behavior that people already wanted to do. According to the Behavior Model, they were already in good shape. That alone might have brought them some success. But what they did next catapulted them into the pantheon of Silicon Valley demigodsâthey made their Golden Behaviors easy to do.
People who experience motivational interviewing can better understand their reasons for doing or not doing a behavior.