Derek Thompson

And frankly, increase our motivation to continue to participate.

Maybe I can, a lot of this is highfalutin neuroscience and psychology, but maybe it's useful if I tell a quick story of how this changed my life.

Would that be all right?

Sure, great, do it.

Yeah, so this is a very personal story.

It's always hard to tell, but I think it's illustrative because a lot of people have similar issues.

But this is what happened with my mom a few years ago.

So a few years ago, my mom had her 74th birthday and I wanted to do something very nice for her.

And so I wanted to buy her some flowers.

The problem was that she was in Central Florida where I grew up and I was in Singapore where I was living at the time.

And I went through a lot of trouble to try and get her those flowers.

I had to find the florist with the best reviews in town and I had to call them up and make sure they would deliver on time, that they wouldn't melt in the Florida heat and, you know, that wouldn't spoil.

And so I went to bed at night at like one in the morning and I went to bed and I said, you know what, Nir, you put in some good effort and she's going to love the flowers and that, you know, but you're a good son.

Good job.

Uh, that's not what happened.

I called her up the next day and I said, Hey mom, happy birthday.

Did you get the flowers I sent?

To which she says, yes, I did.

Thank you.

But just so you know, the flowers that you sent were half dead and I wouldn't order from that florist again.