4 ways to hack your motivation and get more done

Popular productivity tools like to-do apps and task-management trackers are great for scheduling your day and organizing your projects, but you’ll likely have days when you just don’t feel motivated. This mindset is ripe for procrastination or distraction, which can keep you stuck no matter what tool you use. Fortunately, you don’t have to rely on willpower alone.

“Humans like to achieve closure,” says Manu Kapur, author of Productive Failure: Unlocking Deeper Learning Through the Science of Failing. “We like to complete things we have started. In fact, we derive a strong affective boost for completing things we have put effort into.”

To shift into action, you can tap into the brain’s love of closure. Kapur says there are four hacks that can help you get started, keep you motivated, and support you as you move closer toward completing your goal.

Start Small

Big projects often feel overwhelming, which can trigger inertia. The first step to finding your motivation is to just get started. Kapur swims as his main form of exercise and says there are days when he’s tired and doesn’t feel like it. “The inertia is very high,” he admits.

Instead of avoiding the pool, Kapur tells himself he’s going to do just one lap. “If that’s all I do, I’ll be happy,” he says. “That’s the goal that I set for myself. Once I’ve done the lap, though, I almost never get out. I hacked my motivation, thinking I’ll be happy if I just do one lap.”

A way to tap into this hack is to tell yourself you’re going to spend five minutes on a project. Then, set a timer. Or if you need to read a long report, get unstuck by saying you’ll read the first page. Once you complete the short task, your brain will likely have shifted into work mode, and it will feel easy to continue. The starting block is easy to hack, says Kapur.

Be Mindful About Comparison

Getting started can kick things off, but at some point, you might run out of steam. Instead of comparing your progress from where you currently are to where you need to be to cross a finish line, Kapur recommends doing a backwards comparison.

“If you’re very far away from a goal of swimming 20 laps, you can say, ‘I came for one lap. I’ve already done five more,’” he says. “That comparison psychologically motivates you to continue, rather than saying, ‘I’ve got 15 left.’ This hack is called the goal gradient effect. The more you do, the more you want to finish.”

Your motivation to complete things increases the more you persist in it. However, how you use comparison will depend on where you are in your progress. For example, if you want to read a 100-page book and you’re on page 20, it’s easier to get to page 21 if you compare your progress to the starting point. If you’re on page 80, though, reading one more page compared to where you started is less motivating.

“It is easier to go from page 80 to 81 if you compare your progress to the goal state,” says Kapur. “Only 20 pages to go and reading one page gives you a gain of 1 in 20.”

Avoid Losses

Ever continue watching a mediocre TV series because you’re already three or four episodes in? While it can be a waste of time, it’s relatively harmless. But what if you aren’t happy with your career choice after spending years and money on training? Big or small, sticking with something you’ve started because you invested time and resources is called “sunk cost fallacy.” It’s tied to a need to avoid losses.

While it sounds like a recipe for wasting more time and energy, you can leverage sunk costs to hack your motivation. To illustrate his point, Kapur uses the example of having a car wash coupon that gives you a free wash after 10 washes. Imagine you’re given one coupon with two washes already completed and another that hasn’t yet been used. “You’re more likely to complete the coupon that’s started because once you’re in the game, you’re more likely to continue,” he says.

The same can apply to tasks you may consider to be failed, such as being in the wrong job. Looking at the progress you’ve already made and considering the gap you need to correct your path can set up motivation to pursue and complete goals.

“Each failed idea, representation, or solution is a credit stamp on your mental progress card toward the goal of learning something new,” says Kapur. “Each stamp is valued, and the effort celebrated. The learner realizes they do not start from scratch, that they have relevant prior knowledge, but it needs to be activated, extracted, and endowed on their mental progress card.”

Enjoy the Joy of Completion

The final hack comes when you’re close to completion. Maybe you’ve swum 18 laps and are tired. When you see the last lap in front of you, you’ll get a burst of energy to finish the goal.

“When I see the last lap in front of me, I can speed,” says Kapur. “Athletes often do this. When you’re close to the end, the completion effect will take your need to complete things and give you an additional charge where your last bit would be really good.”

Finding the energy to finish the things that are important to you could be as simple as tapping into the basic human desire for closure.