Focusing on the pleasure of effort and cultivating a growth mindset can increase motivation and enjoyment in the process of hard work
Questions to inspire discussion
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How can focusing on the pleasure of effort increase motivation?
—Focusing on the pleasure of effort can increase motivation by shifting the focus from the end result to the enjoyment of the process, making the hard work more enjoyable and rewarding.
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What is a growth mindset?
—A growth mindset is the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication and hard work, rather than being fixed traits.
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How can cultivating a growth mindset enhance enjoyment in the process of hard work?
—Cultivating a growth mindset can enhance enjoyment in the process of hard work by viewing challenges as opportunities for growth, embracing failures as learning experiences, and valuing the effort put into the work.
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Why is it important to focus on the pleasure of effort?
—Focusing on the pleasure of effort is important because it helps to sustain motivation, increase engagement, and foster a positive attitude towards hard work, leading to greater enjoyment and satisfaction in the process.
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How can a growth mindset increase motivation?
—A growth mindset can increase motivation by believing that effort and perseverance can lead to improvement and success, encouraging individuals to take on challenges and persist in the face of obstacles.
Key insights
- 💪 Focusing on the pleasure from effort is the most powerful aspect of dopamine and can keep us motivated to work hard.
- 🧒 Children's natural inclination to draw can be hindered by external rewards: "The researchers took kids that liked to draw and they started giving them a reward for drawing."
- 🧠 Our cognitive interpretation of receiving a reward for an activity can lead us to believe that we didn't do it for enjoyment, but rather for the reward itself.
- 💡 Cultivating a growth mindset involves accessing the rewards from effort and doing, which can lead to tremendous performance.
- 💪 The challenge and friction of a task can actually evoke dopamine release and keep you motivated, even if it's physically painful.
- 💪 Attaching the feeling of friction and effort to an internally generated reward system can keep you motivated without relying on external factors like caffeine or social connection.
- 💪 The reward of effort is found in the dopamine release, which can become reflexive with repetition, rather than solely focusing on the end result.
- 💊 The idea of spiking dopamine prior to or after engaging in effort can actually prevent the release of dopamine from effort itself.
Timestamped Summary
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00:00 💡 Focusing on the pleasure of effort rather than just the end goal can make hard work more enjoyable and motivate us to continue working hard in the future.
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01:02 💡 Giving rewards for an activity can initially increase motivation, but when the rewards are removed, motivation decreases.
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01:32 🧠 Children who were rewarded for drawing showed less intrinsic motivation to draw compared to those who drew without any external rewards, suggesting that receiving rewards can decrease the pleasure associated with the activity itself.
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02:21 🧠 Cultivating a growth mindset involves accessing the rewards of effort and striving, which leads to improved performance.
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03:07 💡 Evoke dopamine release and find pleasure in the challenge and friction of effort, rather than solely focusing on the end goal, to stay motivated and enjoy the process.
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03:56 💡 Attaching the feeling of effort to an internally generated reward system can increase motivation and efficiency, while reducing the need for external stimuli like coffee or loud music.
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04:43 💡 By embracing the effort and focusing on the process rather than the end result, we can access the rewards and dopamine release that come with it, making it a reflexive and motivating skill.
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05:24 🧠 Increase your dopamine baseline by telling yourself that you are doing the activity by choice and because you love it, rather than focusing on the reward at the end, in order to access the pleasure from effort and stay motivated.
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