Ayelet Fishbach

And you can kind of try to see what's motivating for you.

If you are disappointed with the progress that you have made, now you have the choice how to frame your disappointment.

Is it lack of commitment or lack of progress?

Now let's think about it.

If it's lack of progress, then your disappointment is healthy.

That suggests that you should do more.

You have not made progress, so let's just double the effort.

Let's work harder on it.

If your interpretation is lack of commitment, well, that's not great because now you assume that you did not make progress because probably you cannot make progress and will never make progress.

And we can see how that kind of thinking is not very healthy.

And so what we found in studies is that when people frame

past failures, some setbacks, as lack of progress, that increases motivation.

I did not exercise yesterday.

I should definitely exercise today.

When they think about this lack of commitment, this is where we see a problem.

I did not exercise yesterday.

I might not have it in me.

Maybe I will never be able to be the person that I wanted to be.

It's up to you.

The framing is something that you can choose.