114: The Power of Designing Your Motivation and Ambition with Ayelet Fishbach

Overview

We have more agency around our motivation than we realize.

It’s true, we are subject to circumstances and situations. But we can design our motivation and, in some cases, alter those external factors to better support us.

Today, I’m in conversation with Ayelet Fishbach, an award-winning psychologist who has done extensive research on the science of motivation.

We discuss how motivation connects to both ambition and how to manage our goals. You’ll hear how we can make choices about where we want to pull ourselves and how to create the circumstances that best support our efforts. We also delve into the idea that it’s okay to be ambitious and try to do a lot in our lives, while also needing to hold our goals and ambitions lightly so that we can offer ourselves more kindness around the pursuit of our goals.

More About Our Guest

Ayelet Fishbach, PhD, is the Jeffrey Breakenridge Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and the author of GET IT DONE: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. She is the past president of the Society for the Science of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network. She is an expert on motivation and decision making. Dr. Fishbach’s groundbreaking research on human motivation has won the Society of Experimental Social Psychology's Best Dissertation Award and Career Trajectory Award, the Society of Consumer Psychology’s Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, and the Fulbright Educational Foundation Award.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

  • Why motivation is not something you can have or lose

  • Why motivation isn’t simply internally or externally driven

  • Why we need to reframe the conflicts we feel around work and leisure

  • Two ways to reconsider behavior that is in opposition to your goals

  • How to create a goal system

  • How to navigate the inevitable bumps in the road to achieving your goals

  • How to determine if a goal is still right for you as your motivation shifts

  • Why we’re less likely to achieve our goals in isolation

Learn more about Ayelet Fishbach:

Resources Mentioned

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