Nir Eyal

They swam for 60 hours.

Not 60 minutes, 60 hours of nonstop swimming.

Now, why?

What had changed?

Their rat bodies hadn't changed.

They didn't suddenly become super rats.

Their bodies were exactly the same.

The environment hadn't changed.

It was the same exact experiment, same exact cylinders.

We can't ask the rats, obviously, but something we think changed in their minds.

It was the only variable left.

That something about their belief system changed when they believed that salvation might be possible, that maybe that hand might reach in again and save them if they kept swimming.

And so what's so remarkable about this study and why I start the book with it is because it demonstrates to us

that there is a hidden power inside all of us to sustain motivation.

Now, why is motivation so important?

It turns out that the number one determinant of whether you succeed at a goal or fail at your goal is not your intelligence, although that helps.

It's not your resources, although that helps.

It's not your skill set.

Skills can be learned.

The biggest predictor of whether you will meet one of your goals is whether or not you quit.