Staying Motivated By Setting Defaults

My go-to productivity mantra, “Convenience before discipline,” comes from guru Tim Ferriss. People who get a lot done aren’t necessarily more disciplined; they just have a system making the easy option the right one. Think party snacks: even when not hungry, we grab them because they’re right there. Flip that—prep healthy snacks, ditch the junk. Now, the easy move is a healthy snack, and the hassle is getting to the store for the unhealthy. By simply changing the easy option, doing the things that are aligned with our goals becomes the easy ‘default’ option. Changing defaults takes effort. Subscription services work because people are too lazy to cancel. We can pull a similar move—pre-schedule things aligning with our goals. Work out more? Sign up for workouts in advance. Now opting out requires effort. Throw in some stakes to up the game.

”Convenience before discipline”

Tim FerrisS

let’s not beat around the bush, humans are inherently lazy, and it makes perfect sense. For most of humanity, limited food meant conserving energy was crucial. We are masters at this. But this gets tricky when our goals clash with our lazy nature. Convenience and setting defaults act like a staircase, making it easier to climb the mountain. But to start climbing, we need a reason to get away from the bottom and a reason to reach the top. Stakes are related to the first category. Positive feedback loops to the latter.

Mountain hike ‘Hatten’ in Rogaland

Take a closer look at our goals; there are clear downsides if we don’t reach them. For example, not eating healthy increases the risk of heart disease and drains our energy. These stakes are inherent to the goal, but often not enough to motivate us. Humans aren’t great at looking far into the future. So, we need a shorter feedback loop. This holds for both positive and negative feedback loops. Humans are also risk-averse, caring more about losing (e.g. money, status) than gaining the same amount. Use this to your advantage.

Some examples to illustrate this point:

– Staying in Shape -> Sign up for a sports event.

– Losing weight -> Ask someone to hold you accountable, send them a Snapchat of everything you eat. Bonus points if they save all the unhealthy stuff in the chat.

– Getting a good exam grade -> Organize a recurring study group where each person presents part of the literature.

– Reading more books -> Organize a book club where you discuss a set number of pages each week.

– Improve running -> Record all activities in a sports app like Strava. Invite friends and tell them about your goals.

– Going to the gym -> Get a workout partner and schedule workouts in advance. Set milestones and celebrate successes.

– Quitting smoking -> Give a friend or family member a significant amount of money and tell them to donate it to an organization you despise. Some websites will help you set this up as well.

– Improve writing or learn about a certain topic -> Start a blog or newsletter. Having a personal website is something I’d recommend to anyone, but that’s a topic for another post.

We have talked about convenience, setting defaults and feedback loops. These simple concepts make the difference between putting a lot of energy and willpower into doing the right thing or getting closer to your goals by default. I hope it inspires you to make some small changes with big results in the long run.

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