Julia Dhar

And so it is a way of trapping you

in your own good intentions.

And that's so unfortunate because people really deserve a chance to take all of the wisdom from psychology, from behavioral science, from neuroscience, and use it to their own advantage.

And if we just say to people, oh, I think you need a little bit more motivation, it's like saying to people, don't get defensive.

It's gonna produce the exact opposite of the behavior that you hope it will.

And so when you feel that sense of motivation for yourself, because motivation is not bad, it's just not enough, what can you do with it?

Instead of saying, okay, well, today it's the 1st of January.

I feel very motivated.

I'm going to go out and run 15 miles and then I will eat a salad and then I will get eight hours of very good quality sleep.

A really good thing that you could do instead is I'm going to take that motivation and use it to

create a plan.

I'm going to use it to find a buddy to support me in what I am doing.

I'm going to use that motivation to actually imagine what it's going to feel like in a week when I'm back at work and extremely busy and make a plan for that version of Julia rather than today's version of Julia.

So can motivation be a fuel for people to change?

Of course, yes.

Does it last a very long time?

No, it doesn't.

And when it meets other obstacles, it is very often not enough in the face of those obstacles.

And it is really, really unhelpful when we...

judge ourselves or judge other people for not having enough motivation, not having enough willpower.