Hacking Your Psychology to Do Hard Things Consistently - Dr Mike Israetel

I wanted to talk about the science of willpower, habits, motivation, some of the buzziest of topics at the moment. Why do you think this is such a popular area of discussion for people on the internet?

You know, I'm really happy that it's a popular area of discussion on the internet. The internet has (laughs) plenty of stuff on there that is kind of just junk. Most of my stuff, for example. Like what is it, what am I really mostly about? Vanity, you know, that sucks. But, um, it's really awesome that so many people, at least by search volume, seem to be interested in motivation and habits and willpower because that tells me that people are doing two things. One, recognizing that they want success, uh, or, uh, y- to achieve some goals. And two is recognizing that, like, their motivational structure is a potential limiting factor to that success. And so if you're like, "Oh yeah, things in the outside world are important, and I'm gonna try to architect myself to be better at them," man, like, that really is a great thing and really does set you up for a significant amount of more success than you would if you never asked the question of like, "How do, how do I get maximally motivated?" And you just kind of assumed that you, uh, were, uh, uh, like, whatever motivation level you have, that's just kind of what you're, you're doing. Like, it's kind of default.

Mm-hmm.

I had a, a situation today. I was, earlier I was working on my, my, n- my next book. Yes, it's an adult, adult novel. (laughs) Yeah.

Can I be on the cover?

It's a gay adult novel.

I'm on the cover.

Yeah, I, I thought your people already signed it.

Ah.

Correct. There's a cl- two clones of you on the cover and making love. And they... But love, I don't mean lust, I mean love, Chris. And you can s- f- you can feel the love. Any- anyway, I digress.

Yeah.

So, I was writing, and it took me, like, um, uh, like, a minute or two to really get in the groove. And, uh, during a f- a few times during that one specific time during that minute or two, I was like, "Oh, my stupid brain. Like, get focused already. Look what's wrong with me. I have super bad attention deficit disorder. I suck." And then I was like, "Oh wait, wait, like, um, first of all, that was dumb 'cause it was just a matter of getting in a flow state, and it's always rocky at first. But second of all, now I'm thinking about it like, okay, there's ways to improve your attention span."

Mm-hmm.

"And if I just said, well, this is my limitation and this is just who I am, okay, fine. I'll get some stuff done. But if I ask the next question of like, okay, I know that my ability to focus is a limiting factor in my success, so is my motivation, et cetera, how can I attend to those factors and do at least two things? One, kind of understand the world of those factors to at least kind of speak the language, which is something we're gonna figure out how to do today. And two, take what I need from that and try really junior league implementing it in my life? And then if I do that, hey, maybe I'll have some more success. Then I can come back, refine the process, and do better things."