When it comes to motivation, Naval’s advises using public accountability to shame you into achieving your goals. Put simply, you identify a goal, tell people you’ve achieved it and then use that as your incentive to keep you on the straight and narrow. Interestingly, this contrasts with Derek Sivers’ approach of keeping your goals to yourself (discussed here). Sivers argues that you don’t want to reward your brain with the undeserved dopamine hit it gets from telling people about the awesome things you’re doing.
You could argue that the distinction lies in the use of language, and specifically the tense. Saying “I have quit smoking” is a definitive statement. I can see why publicly announcing this would have the effect of shaming you to stay on the straight and narrow, as Naval argues. But saying “I will quit smoking” might give you the good feeling without any of the effort, thus disinclining you to follow through. That is the Sivers argument.Read more in a World Beyond Work.
Thanks, +Caitlin Strandberg
