The Motivation Hacker Summary

The Motivation Hacker

by Nick Winter • 2013 • 138 pages
3.73
2.0K ratings
Self Help Productivity Psychology
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Key Takeaways

1. Hack Your Motivation with the MEVID Equation

Motivation is fuel for life. Without motivation, you can't get out of bed.

Understanding MEVID. The motivation equation, MEVID, breaks down motivation into four components:

  • Motivation = (Expectancy x Value) / (Impulsiveness x Delay)
  • Expectancy: Your confidence in succeeding
  • Value: The reward and enjoyment of the task
  • Impulsiveness: Your susceptibility to distractions
  • Delay: How far off the reward seems

By manipulating these factors, you can dramatically increase your motivation for any task or goal. Focus on increasing Expectancy and Value while decreasing Impulsiveness and Delay to maximize motivation.

2. Build Success Spirals to Boost Confidence

To start building your success spirals, first make a tiny, achievable goal that you can't forget to do.

Start small, build momentum. Success spirals are a powerful technique to increase your Expectancy:

  • Begin with easily achievable goals
  • Consistently accomplish these goals
  • Gradually increase the difficulty
  • Track your successes to reinforce progress

This process builds confidence and creates a positive feedback loop, making it easier to tackle increasingly challenging tasks. As you accumulate wins, your belief in your ability to succeed grows, fueling further motivation and achievement.

3. Use Precommitment to Overcome Impulsiveness

To precommit is to choose now to limit your options later, preventing yourself from making the wrong choice in the face of temptation.

Lock in future behavior. Precommitment is a versatile tool for reducing Impulsiveness:

  • Publicly announce your goals
  • Use commitment contracts (e.g., Beeminder)
  • Set up consequences for not following through
  • Create accountability systems with friends or online communities

By limiting your future options, you make it easier to stay on track when motivation wanes or temptations arise. The stronger the commitment, the more powerful the motivational effect.

4. Eliminate Distractions with Burnt Ships

If Cortés were around today, he'd probably be one of us who turn our internet off.

Create a distraction-free environment. The "Burnt Ships" technique involves removing or disabling potential distractions:

  • Turn off internet access during focused work periods
  • Use website blockers to limit access to time-wasting sites
  • Remove tempting snacks from your home
  • Create a dedicated workspace free from entertainment options

By eliminating escape routes, you force yourself to focus on the task at hand. This technique is particularly effective for overcoming procrastination and building new habits.

5. Set Challenging, Specific, Immediate, Approach-oriented Goals

Challenging, Specific, Immediate, and Approach (not avoidance) goals are in.

CSIA goals for maximum motivation. When setting goals, aim for:

  • Challenging: Push yourself beyond your comfort zone
  • Specific: Clearly define what success looks like
  • Immediate: Focus on actions you can take now
  • Approach-oriented: Frame goals positively (what to do) rather than negatively (what to avoid)

Examples:

  • Bad goal: "Lose weight"
  • Good goal: "Exercise for 30 minutes, 5 days a week for the next month"
  • Bad goal: "Stop procrastinating"
  • Good goal: "Complete one important task before checking email each morning"

6. Measure and Optimize Your Happiness

If you want to improve your motivation, your focus, your happiness, or your productivity, then you should measure those things, because otherwise you won't know what's working.

Track and analyze your well-being. To increase overall happiness:

  • Regularly measure your happiness levels (e.g., on a 1-10 scale)
  • Identify activities and circumstances that correlate with high and low happiness
  • Experiment with lifestyle changes and track their impact
  • Focus on increasing experiential happiness rather than just life satisfaction

Be aware that humans are often poor judges of what truly makes them happy. By systematically measuring and analyzing your happiness, you can make data-driven decisions to improve your well-being and motivation.

7. Learn Anything Through Deliberate Practice

With any skill, you can come up with an exercise that will push you to just beyond your limits, where learning comes the fastest.

Efficient skill acquisition. To rapidly learn new skills:

  • Break down complex skills into smaller, manageable components
  • Design targeted exercises that push your limits in specific areas
  • Use spaced repetition systems (e.g., Anki) for fact-based learning
  • Seek immediate feedback and adjust your approach accordingly
  • Practice consistently, even if only for short periods each day

Examples:

  • Language learning: Focus on high-frequency vocabulary, use apps like Duolingo or Anki, practice speaking with native speakers
  • Physical skills: Break down movements, practice in slow motion, gradually increase speed and complexity
  • Creative skills: Set daily creation goals, experiment with different techniques, seek critique from experts

8. Embrace Failure as a Path to Growth

The pain of having to finish a bad goal is often a fair price for the lesson on picking your goals.

Learn from setbacks. Failure is an inevitable part of pursuing ambitious goals:

  • Analyze failures to identify areas for improvement
  • Adjust your approach based on lessons learned
  • Maintain your commitment to long-term success
  • Use failure as motivation to work harder and smarter

Remember that even "failed" goals often result in significant progress and valuable experiences. The key is to maintain a growth mindset and view setbacks as opportunities for learning and refinement.

9. Choose Goals That Excite and Fulfill You

Avoid running after the wrong goals. The motivation hacker learns to run fast, and if he goes the wrong way, he'll end up far from the life he wanted.

Align goals with passions. When selecting goals:

  • Focus on intrinsically motivating pursuits
  • Avoid chasing prestige or others' expectations
  • Regularly reassess and adjust goals as needed
  • Balance challenging goals with achievable milestones

Consider using exercises like:

  1. Imagining your ideal day
  2. Listing and rating potential goals based on excitement, probability of success, and time required
  3. Taking an outsider's perspective on your life to identify new opportunities

10. Balance Work and Play for Sustained Motivation

Collect fun-dense activities, then do those instead of spending more time on wimpy leisure distractions.

Optimize leisure time. To maintain high motivation and avoid burnout:

  • Schedule dedicated time for high-quality leisure activities
  • Identify and prioritize "fun-dense" activities that provide maximum enjoyment
  • Use play as a reward for completing challenging tasks
  • Experiment with different forms of recreation to find what truly rejuvenates you

Examples of fun-dense activities:

  • Engaging in challenging sports or games
  • Creating art or music
  • Having deep conversations with friends
  • Exploring nature or new environments

By intentionally balancing work and play, you can maintain high levels of motivation and energy for your most important goals while avoiding the temptation of low-quality distractions.

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