Motivation and Means-Ends Fusion

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

goal, motivation, intrinsic motivation, means, mind, read, started, shift, motivated, feel, tying, fusion, called, gave, desire, running, employing, find, stopping, write

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Motivation. It's what keeps us moving toward our goal. But how do we maintain it when we're not quite feeling well motivated? Stay with me today for today where I talk about a way to add some zip to your motivation. And it's an idea called means and fusion, you might already be doing it without realizing it.

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The following was recorded in front of a live studio audience at the studio 21 podcast cafe. This is the United Podcast Network.

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Welcome to rat race reboot. I'm your host, Laura Noel. And as a certified coach and former 27 year military leader, each week, I provide bite sized mindset pivots that will help you reset your mind reawaken your spirit and regain your control. Hello, and welcome back today is all about motivation. In fact, the next few weeks are going to be about different strategies to help you stay on target. So you know, maybe you set a goal, you're super excited about it, and you get chugging along, and then you start to lose your motivation. Sometimes I don't know if you've ever experienced this where you're really jazzed about a goal, you're excited, you write it down, you make the decision. But then you just can't find the motivation to get started. I know that recently happened to me in, in my class on motivation. I was like I have a paper to write, it's due tomorrow, it's 10 pages. And I haven't even started and I can't find a topic. And then my classmates were like, there's your motivation. There's your topic. So what really stops us in our tracks? How can we get motivated? And how can we sustain that motivation? Well, there's a couple different kinds of motivation. There's intrinsic motivation. And there's extrinsic motivation. So intrinsic motivation is that self generated motivation, you're doing something that you want to be doing, it feels good, it's inspiring, it's coming from within. And then you have extrinsic motivation, which is maybe something that you ought to do, or you have to do, or there's a reward tied to it or an incentive, or you're doing it to avoid a consequence. So that's extrinsic motivation. So what we're going to talk about today, is a form of intrinsic motivation. And it's called means and fusion minutes, one of these articles that I recently read, I found it fascinating, by Cruz, Lansky, and at all. And they conducted a bunch of studies on this theory called means and fusion, excuse me. And there's two consequences. That when you have and you create this fusion with the means the mechanism toward moving toward the goal and the goal one is that you intensify this intrinsic motivation within yourself. And this activity becomes one with the goal. And it's also your joy and effect, in engaging in this activity become fused, so it becomes more joyful the means toward getting to the goal. So I'll give you an example. I was in a group of Lean Six Sigma black belt, and they were master black belts, and I was the black belt on the team. And we were getting ready to do some robotic automations and getting a certification for our team so that we can add that to our our services and kind of expand what we're able to provide. And as it turned out, I said, Well, I'll do it. I'll take one for the team. And I'll learn this process of robotic automation. I am not technical, I am not a tech person. And so I was finding it difficult to get motivated to do the work. It was a 40 Actually, it was a 30 hour pre class that I had to take. And then that was followed by a 40 hour more intensive class where I had to build. It was like a form field with a push button to join. And then it had to like trigger all these actions. And that had to be tested by a mentor to make sure that it it actually triggered three separate times and then I passed Okay, so I started working on this and I was dreading it. It was really stressful. It was like I was dragging my feet To get to work to start working on the automations, and learning how to do it. And I know that for me, my mind is most fresh earlier in the day, not super early in the morning, but around like that 10 to one timeframe, that's when I'm most focused or most able to focus. And I know that about myself. So you would think that I would put those tasks in that window. No, I didn't, I would do everything else, even other things that I didn't like doing. And I would put this toward the end of the day. And it was laborious. Finally, I switched something within myself. And I said, instead of this being something that I have to do for work, I'm changing it in my mind to say, I'm learning how to do something. I've never been technical, but I'm going to teach myself to be tactical, just to prove that I can do it for myself. And what I started doing was I started scheduling that time to work on that activity, the means toward getting certified. And I would do it in those, those hours where I felt really fresh and alive. And then I started employing a Pomodoro technique where I would do 25 minutes of really focused work. And then take a five minute break 25 minutes of focused work, a five minute break, I would do like four or five segments like that. And I would listen to relaxing music in the background. And I would just have my aromatherapy going on in the background with my essential oils, I had my healthy snacks. So I made my office feel kind of spa like, and I kind of turned it into a game so that the means toward getting to the goal was fun. It started to become intrinsic motivation. It felt like it was something that I wanted to do. It was a lesson that I wanted to learn and teach myself, it was a skill that I wanted to learn how to do. It was just it became a game and proving to myself that I could be technical if I really wanted to, and that I wanted it to feel effortless and easy. So I challenged that theory by making my office more like a spa and taking frequent breaks. Before I knew it, I was having fun. And I was engaging with another one of our colleagues who also was doing this training. And we were just comparing notes. And then I had that mentor, and I would call him and it became fun. So before I knew it, that means to the end became fused with my goal and it was no longer laborious. So end of story. I had encountered so many obstacles in this training process. And the company was asking me for my feedback, because this course was actually designed for programmers for technical people in the IT field. And I don't have an IT background. So they wanted to get my perspective as a non IT person, how this could be improved. So it just became a fun challenge. And yes, I got certified and it was awesome. Another example of this means ends fusion and how it's applied in the context of a goal is one of my professors was talking about how she would go running all the time. And her husband, I think they were dating at the time he wanted to run to for his health. But what got him running was the idea of being with her on these runs. He hated running. So his his goal of being healthy and fit. He knew he needed to run and get moving again, he hated running. So he had this means ends fusion, when he started thinking about running in the context of I get to be with this lovely person, I want to be around all the time. So that means and running within that context, fused with the goal of him being healthy. And then eventually, he started running on his own too. And then of course they got married. So clearly it worked out well. So he fused his goal of being healthy with a means that intrinsically motivated him. And it gave him the sustained motivation to pursue his goal. So what can you do with this information? I love reading all of these empirical studies and kind of boiling boiling them down to something that's tangible and workable and giving you some great examples. But I wrote a couple of notes here to get you started. If you find that you are excited about a goal, but then you're having trouble kind of getting the motivation to get started. Or maybe you get started and you're having trouble staying sustaining that motivation. Start to be aware of Have the language that you're using around the means the mechanisms that you're using toward your end the goal. So start looking at being aware of, if you're saying I need to do this, I have to do this, oh, I should do this, I ought to do this. Well, that's a sign that your goal really in the mechanisms to get there, the means to get there aren't really coming from an internal place of desire, it's not intrinsically motivated. Instead, start to shift your language to, I get to do this, I choose to do this, I want to do this, and maybe even tying it to a why. So that the motivation is more intrinsically motivated versus something that you feel is external, I have to do this. So I said, I was going to do this goal, and I have somebody holding me accountable. Well, you need a deeper meaning than that, for you to have sustainability and staying power with that goal. So try that Be aware of your language, and then choose to shift it. And then tie your means your mechanism toward getting to that goal, tying it to something that is deeply rooted in a desire. So maybe you want your goal but one of the mechanisms toward getting there, it's scary for you, or you're learning a new skill and you're feeling a little bit frazzled about it, shift it, I want to another example is in my doctoral program, last semester, and I say, I can't believe I took 11 credit hours, most people are taking six, ah, that was crazy. It seemed like an insurmountable amount of work. And I was having trouble distilling all of the reading that I had, I wanted to kind of boil it down in ways that I could make sense of it, and then share it with all of you, so that you could use it right. And I was having trouble doing that I was having trouble finding the motivation to sit down and read and I would procrastinate, and clearly I was procrastinating on writing my paper. But I shifted this in my mind to instead of, I'm taking classes and I have to learn this and I have to understand this reading or this topic, I shifted it to I'm learning how to do something that motivates me, because I like learning how to do different things. And that that that little mental pivot, gave me the fire in my belly to take something and not just read it, but take it and distill it and communicate it to somebody else, so that I could learn it better for myself, and apply it and then help all of you apply it. So it's kind of that helping relationship. That's the intrinsic motivation. For me, your job is to find out what makes you tick. And if you need help with that, if you're having trouble, even landing on a goal, finding the motivation to sit down and figure it out, finding the motivation to get started on the goal, or sustain that motivation and the actions that you need to take to get in that direction that I want you to go to rat race reboot.com message me, you can download our quantum leap handbook right there. And you can get in contact with me and book a call. It's free. It's a discovery call, and we'll get you pointed in the right direction. A good coach can help you compress time somebody who understands these concepts, who understands how to goal set and understands the building blocks of motivation and how our minds can hold us back from doing the very thing that we said we wanted to do. Don't let your mindset blocks stop you from going exactly where you want to go and achieving the things that you say you want to achieve, get the support of a coach. So this was really short and sweet. We're going to have some more lessons on motivation. Other concepts I'll share with you that you can start employing today. But I want to hear from you. Try this. Tell me what you think of means and fusion and try it for yourself. And starting with being aware of some of the language that you're using as you're starting to pursue your goal. And share with us in the comments what your thoughts are. I'd love to hear from you. All right, well, today we're going to end our session the way we end all of our sessions and I want you to get really connected with what it is you truly desire. And start thinking about this means ends fusion, think about something that you say that you truly desire. Maybe you're struggling a little bit with it right now. Maybe you're struggling with getting the to get up and go. Maybe you're stopping and starting

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and you're frustrated because you don't know why. Why is your motivation waning when you truly We want this thing that you say you do without judgment. So let's get you connected, take a deep breath in through your nose. And exhale. Take another deep inhale. And exhale. Take one more long and deep inhale and hold it. And then slowly releasing any signs of tension in your body, just letting it go.

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Bring your mind back to that goal. That you keep saying you truly want and desire. Maybe it's that goal that you set year after year after year, because it's important to you, but then you just can't seem to gain some traction on it without judgment by the way. And start to think about some of the language and self talk you're using. As you start to move forward toward that goal, or even just get started.

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And if that language isn't supporting you, in moving you forward, if you find that you're giving in to some of the excuses or the external circumstances, which really are, are not true, they might feel real, when you're dealing with them at the time, but they're not your truth. Become aware of them and start to think about how could you start shifting your language in a way that supports your movement toward your goal. And it can be subtle things. So instead of why do I keep stopping and starting, I get to do this, I choose to do this, I desire this. I am willing to do whatever it takes. And once you start shifting your language, start to think about your goal. And why that goal is important to you. Imagine you've already reached it. Kind of ripple effect is that having on you, the people around you your level of competence.

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And as images come to your mind, I want you to take some extra time today and write them down. And this is how we start the process of taking inspired action. When you can transport yourself to the goal as already being fulfilled. And the confidence that you have as you're viewing the world from that goal. The lives that you touch. When you reach that goal, how does it feel being you in that goal when you start having ideas or little pings of curiosity? Write them down and follow them. Because in that moment, when you're feeling the essence of that goal, you're in harmony with it, and your guidance system, your intuition is pulling you in the direction of that goal. You just have to trust it, listen to it, and follow through. So I hope today has been helpful for you. We talked about motivation. And one of those ways of motivating us is a theory that was proposed by croons Lansky, and all in 2018, it's called means ends fusion, we're going to talk about other ways of maintaining motivation and holding on to that so you can pursue your goals and attain them. But until next week, remember, everything is created twice. This is where it all starts, first in your imagination in mind, and then in physical form. Thanks so much for joining us, and we'll see you next week.

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