Huberman Lab Podcast episode: Goals Toolkit
- Define one lofty goal.
- Choose something that you deeply desire, that is inspiring, and that feels a little beyond what you think you can achieve in 12 weeks.
- Accept that you will make errors and be frustrated along the journey. Discomfort means you are making progress! Frustration triggers your brain to adapt, which is necessary for hard things to become easier.
- Set aside other goals. Focus on one priority at a time.
- Write down your goals in specific verb actions on paper.
- What specific actions will you take, for how long, and how often?
- e.g. I will log my food intake every day for 12 weeks, to eat at caloric deficit (under 1600 Cals, at least 126g protein)…NOT “I will lose 10 lbs.”
- These verb actions should be process-based, not outcome-based. Your actions are things you have control over.
- What specific actions will you take, for how long, and how often?
- Each day (before each session), first evaluate your level of motivation, and visualize your goal outcome accordingly.
- If motivation is high, spend 1-3 minutes visualizing success and how good it will feel to achieve your goal.
- If feeling unmotivated, spend 1-3 minutes visualizing failure and how terrible it will feel, i.e. I didn’t follow through, broke a promise to myself.
- Not meant as self-flagellation, but as a way to recruit motivation and “scare” yourself into doing the work
- Rewards: Use random, intermittent reinforcement (like in a casino, or like training a puppy).
- At certain milestones (e.g. at the end of each session or each week), flip a coin to decide whether you get a reward. 50/50 chance!
- Rewards can be physical (e.g. buy a new toy/treat) or cognitive (e.g. positive self-talk, “yes I am the kind of person who sets a goal and gets after it.”)
- Based on science behind dopamine, the molecule of motivation: If you reward yourself every time you hit a milestone, you will decrease the potency of the reward and diminish motivation over time.
- Break down the “middle problem” into smaller chunks.
- Motivation is highest at the beginning of a goal pursuit and near the end, when the finish line is in sight.
- Acknowledge the middle, accept that a lull is normal, and chunk the middle down into its own beginning, middle and end, until there is no middle.
