What Really Motivates Us to Stick to a Project?

By Leo Babauta I get asked about the idea of No Goals a lot. That’s not surprising, given how deeply Goals are ingrained in us. And while these days I play with the line between having goals and not having them (it’s not solid line), I’ve learned a lot about myself by allowing myself to let go of how tightly I was holding onto my Goals. Recently reader John asked: ‘I’m still playing with the idea of no goals, and I was wondering: how many projects have you stopped doing because you were no longer interested in them? Can you give some examples of them and your process? How often does that happen for you? I think it may help me with my own struggles to hear a bit about that. ‘My concern with no goals is that I’ll start several projects and then not finishing any of them because I’ll keep getting distracted by the next shiny thing. And then I’ll look back at my life and feel like I didn’t really accomplish anything.’ Great question. What I’ve learned is that goals get a lot of credit for having us stick to projects, but they mask what really motivates us to stay with something: Commitment. If I commit to doing something to other people (say a business partner, a workout partner, or my blog readers), I’m much more likely to stick to it. This is true whether I set a goal for this commitment or not. Having a strong Why. If I really care about a project, it’s because there’s a v...
Source: Zen Habits - Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tags: Goals & Motivation Source Type: blogs