The Good Leadership Podcast Stay on Track: Hidden Forces That Make or Break Your Motivation Part 1 with Ayelet Fishbach & Charles Good | TGLP #234
Today, we are joined by Ayelet Fishbach.
Ayelet Fishbach studies social psychology, management and consumer behavior. She is the past president of the Society for the Science of Motivation and the International Social Cognition Network, and the best-selling author of GET IT DONE: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation.
Fishbach is an expert on motivation and decision making. Her groundbreaking research on human motivation has won the Society of Experimental Social Psychology's Best Dissertation Award and Career Trajectory Award, and the Fulbright Educational Foundation Award. She further received the Provost's Teaching Award from the University of Chicago.
Fishbach’s research has been published in many journals, including Nature, Psychological Review, Psychological Science, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Marketing Research, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Her research is regularly featured in the media, including the New York Times, Financial Times, WSJ, CNN, and NPR.
In this episode, we explore the fascinating science behind what truly drives human motivation and why so many of our common approaches to goal setting actually work against us. Ayelet reveals the three critical traps that undermine our motivation from the start: focusing on means rather than ends, being too concrete in our goal setting, and framing goals as things to avoid rather than pursue.
Key topics include:
The Baron von Münchhausen story and the impossibility of self-motivation through willpower alone
The three goal-setting traps that sabotage motivation: means-focused goals, overly concrete targets, and avoidance framing
Why fantasizing about success actually reduces the likelihood of achieving your goals
Why 10,000 steps became a global phenomenon
How incentives can backfire
Uncertain incentives and why mystery bonuses motivate more than fixed rewards
How to make goals more emotionally engaging
Whether you're leading a team, pursuing personal goals, or trying to understand what truly motivates human behavior, Ayelet's research-backed insights provide a roadmap for creating sustainable motivation that leads to real results.
Ayelet Fishbach's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Get-Done-Surprising-Lessons-Motivation/dp/0316538345
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Website and live online programs: http://ims-online.com
Blog: https://blog.ims-online.com/
Podcast: https://ims-online.com/podcasts/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesgood/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/charlesgood99
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:10) Tool: Understanding the Baron von Münchhausen Metaphor for Self-Motivation
(02:25) Technique: Avoiding the Three Goal-Setting Traps That Undermine Motivation
(06:25) Tip: Why Approach Goals Work Better Than Avoidance Goals
(07:50) Tool: Learning About Motivation from Graduate School and Early Career Challenges
(10:05) Technique: Why Fantasizing About Success Reduces Action and What Works Instead
(12:00) Tip: The Power of Numbers in Goal Setting and the 10,000 Steps Phenomenon
(15:20) Tool: Understanding When Incentives Help and When They Backfire
(18:45) Technique: The Cobra Effect and How Poor Incentive Design Creates Unintended Consequences
(20:10) Tip: Why Uncertain Incentives Are More Motivating Than Fixed Rewards
(22:30) Tool: Why Excitement Predicts Persistence Better Than Importance
(24:45) Technique: Making Goals More Emotionally Engaging for Sustainable Motivation
(25:50) Conclusion
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