Finding the Middle Ground
In order to stick to a new habit, we have to find the perfect middle ground between too easy and too hard.
Too easy…if something’s too easy, you’ll get bored. Just the right amount of failure pushes you to work harder. Think about that time you played soccer with your 5-year-old cousin. It wasn’t a win to brag about, was it?
Too hard...you’ll lose all motivation because winning just won’t seem attainable. We need some wins. That feeling of success makes us think, wow I want that again. BJ Fogg says, “something in our lizard brains inherently understands how high these stakes would be, which is why it can feel hard to start something new if it’s too big.” If you’re trying to learn guitar, you probably shouldn’t start with a Jimi Hendrix song. (@GenZ, replace Jimi Hendrix with James Charles and guitar with a Morphe Palette.)
The ~Optimal~ Zone
There’s a sweet spot to reach peak motivation without failing or getting bored. It’s called The Optimal Zone. We love a good graph:
|