EVERY SPOKEN WORD
10 min read · 1,530 words- 0:00 – 0:30
Motivation myths in isolation: you don’t need the “5am club”
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
You know those days when you really can't be bothered to get out of bed? Which is almost like every day in social isolation when you don't have anywhere to be. And then you read those stories of those go-getters who are just so darn motivated, like the 5am club. Do I really have to wake up at 5am every morning to be considered a success? I think I'll pass. I've had a lot of conversations about the topic of motivation. And while every person is different, there are three science-backed tips that everyone should know. And whether you choose to wake up at 5am or not is
- 0:30 – 1:31
Hack #1: Action comes first—motivation follows
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
not a determining factor. In this video, I'm going to share with you the three simplest hacks to motivate yourself when you just can't be bothered. [upbeat music] Hi, I'm Shade Zahrai, and I help professionals to hack their careers, overcome their limiting beliefs, and confidently create the extraordinary life they deserve. The very first thing you need to be aware of is that motivation doesn't equal action. You can't just sit around thinking that you'll get a shot of motivation and then you'll go out there and do whatever it is that you want to do. Actually, it's the other way around. It's action that leads to motivation. You have to actually go out there and do the thing before you can even start to feel remotely motivated about the thing. It's a slightly different way of looking at it, isn't it? When you go out there and you do that thing, you start to see yourself doing more of that thing. You start to visualize that achieving it isn't as difficult as you may have once thought. You start to see micro improvements in
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Choosing action vs. falling into overthinking and procrastination
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
the micro steps helping you get closer to your actual goal. All of these things then add to the motivation for you to continue doing it. So talking about motivation and action, you basically have two options at this point in time. The first option is what I just talked about. You can take action. You can choose to act right now, right here, and start that thing that you've been thinking about for so long. But now the second option is what a lot of us get stuck into, and then we wonder why we
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Managing the inner critic: don’t give negative thoughts control
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
have no motivation. We start procrastinating. We start overanalyzing. We overthink. And then we come up with every possible excuse, and then we hold ourselves back from taking any action at all. Those who are most successful in life, they take action over overthinking. The reality is that we all have negative self-defeatist thoughts. We all have that voice in our head telling us that we're not good enough, we're not going to be able to do it, we don't have the skills, the intelligence, the networks. And
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Hack #2: Analyze your ‘why’—benefits drive follow-through
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
the thing is, if we actually listen to that voice, then we give it power over us. We have just created our reality by not acting. We need to really take life by the reins and realize that it's through action that we will achieve things. It's through action that we'll find more motivation to achieve our goals. And the second science-backed tip is to spend some time actually analyzing the reason why you want to do the thing, whatever it is that you've set as your goal. What I mean by this is start to think about what sort of benefit that
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Intrinsic vs. extrinsic rewards: what’s really motivating you?
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
you'll get from taking the action. So the thing to note here is that we have two types of rewards. We have intrinsic rewards, and then we have extrinsic rewards. Intrinsic rewards are internal to ourselves. They're things that we feel, including a sense of achievement, personal satisfaction, fulfillment, a sense of pride that we were able to get started on the goal, or even a heightened sense of curiosity because when we learn a little bit about something, we want to continue to learn more. Extrinsic rewards, on the other hand, are external to ourselves. They're extrinsic. This could be money, being recognized by someone else, and it could actually be a fear of punishment from others or from society. If you have a lot of intrinsic benefits, it's really positive for you because it means that you've got the internal drive and the internal motivation to actually achieve the goal. When you're intrinsically motivated, you might engage in an activity because you find it interesting and inherently satisfying, as well as the outcome. But if you have all intrinsic and don't have any extrinsic
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Creating accountability: how extrinsic drivers can support intrinsic goals
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
benefits, or don't have many of them, what could happen is that you have all the internal drive to do it, but you have nothing external holding you accountable to deliver within a certain timeframe. I found that this was the case when I was writing my book. It was very internally motivated in terms of being able to complete it, and I would spend hours writing any chance that I could, but I got to a certain point where I started losing a bit of that motivation because I had nothing extrinsically driving me other than publishing the book. So what I did was I shared my goal of writing
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When motivation is only external: reassess the goal’s fit
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
the book on social media and with those close to me. I shared it with my networks and I asked them to hold me accountable. As soon as I had people like family, friends, people I didn't even know very well asking me how the book writing was going, I found that this external sense of accountability really boosted my motivation in sticking with the goal because I didn't want to let them down. On the other hand, if your motivators are entirely extrinsic motivators, this is a red flag for you to really dig deep and ask yourself whether this goal you're trying to achieve is something you really want, or whether you're only doing it because maybe other people are telling you you should do it. Some people think that external achievements will bring a huge amount of happiness through social validation, through status or a feeling of significance. But if these things are all linked to extrinsic outcomes, then it's almost guaranteed that it won't bring you happiness in the long run. So importantly, take some time to really think about why you're wanting to do what you're wanting to do and try to come up with some intrinsic reasons why it's important to you to
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Hack #3: Write goals based on the benefit (your real ‘why’)
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
achieve it. And the third tip is to write out your goals, but write them based on the benefit you'll get as a result. These benefits are your why, your reason for wanting to achieve the goal, and that's the powerful motivator reminder that you need. For example, get a $5,000 pay rise isn't revealing an intrinsic or an extrinsic benefit. I'd ask you this, why is getting a $5,000 pay rise important to you? You might say So that my value and my worth at work is acknowledged
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Turn the ‘why’ into a plan: micro-goals and visible reminders
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
and I'm recognized as a valuable contributor to the team and company. So you immediately can see how getting a pay rise versus being recognized for my value makes you feel something different. By knowing your why, you're tapping into the emotion center of your brain. Emotions are what drive motivation, and motivation drives behavior, and then the other way around. Action drives the motivation. So do this for all of your goals, and then you add the actionable, measurable micro goals that help you achieve them. For example, start to document stakeholder feedback. Make
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Language hack: replace “I should” with “I choose / I get to”
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
a list of the quantifiable benefits that I've delivered to my company over the last 12 months, and then schedule a meeting with my manager. Once you've written them out, you want to put them somewhere visible, somewhere where you will see them every single day to continually remind yourself of your goals and keep you laser-focused. This visual cue is really important. And another useful hack worth noting is instead of saying to yourself, "I should," change your language to say, "I choose." Subtle language changes have a profound influence on how you
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Recap and call to action: action, why, motivators, language
- SZDr. Shadé Zahrai
feel and how you show up. Language of I should, like I should arrange a meeting with my manager to discuss my salary, or I should go to the gym today, can be very demotivating. So instead, say, "I choose to arrange a meeting for next week," or even, "I get to go to the gym today." It's the simple power of neurolinguistics, but it has a huge impact on how you feel and then what you end up doing. So there you have it, three simple hacks to help you motivate yourself when you really can't be bothered. And it comes down to action, knowing your why, knowing your motivators, and the power of language. I really hope these hacks are useful and helped provide a different way of looking at motivation to help you achieve your next goal. In the comments below, let me know what you're working towards and how you're keeping yourself motivated. I'm Shadé Zahrai. I'll see you next time. [outro music]
Episode duration: 8:01
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