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Why Motivation is a Myth

2020-07-01 · Book summary (Book Club) · Ali · recording, 12:33 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Mindset, motivation and happiness (also: Work and career, Goals, purpose and life design) · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Lesson from a book, Sponsor segment present, His medical past

In a Book Club episode on Jeff Haden's The Motivation Myth, Ali presents three ideas: motivation follows progress instead of sparking action, process over goals (saying "I don't" for "I can't"), and becoming a generalist who masters new skills in five-to-seven-year seasons; he announces a one-year sabbatical from medicine from August 2020.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Do we need motivation? Book Club episode on The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden and its three ideas

  • ★★ This Book Club episode, in Ali's series discussing ideas from his favourite books, is on The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden. — 00:00:00 · Book Club
  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Jeff Haden says motivation is something you can create yourself: effort brings improvement and progress, which feels good and carries you to the next day of your plan. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Motivation is not the spark: action, success and dopamine feed motivation

  • ★★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Jeff Haden says that for most people motivation is a sugar rush that never lasts, and its only recipe is success: the dopamine hit of seeing yourself make progress. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ A motivational YouTube video, a quote or a topless photo on Instagram makes Ali feel motivated to look like Zac Efron, but that motivation never lasts. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): The Motivation Myth's main idea: action leads to success, success to motivation, motivation to more action, a positive dopamine-driven feedback loop. — 00:01:57

  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Jeff Haden's soundbite: motivation is the fire that starts burning after you painfully coax it into existence, and it feeds on seeing yourself make progress. — 00:02:26

    “Motivation is the fire that starts burning after you manually, painfully coax it into existence”

  • ★★★ Ali calls it a life-changing insight that he did not need motivation: he should do the thing and motivation will follow, which opened many doors for him. — 00:02:26

00:03:10 — Processes over goals: the marathon, one or two videos a week, "I don't" instead of "I can't"

  • ★★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): In The Motivation Myth, Jeff Haden says there is nothing wrong with having a goal, but a goal alone is not enough: success depends on the process. — 00:03:24
  • ★★ To run a marathon, Ali says, set the goal, then forget it and focus on the process of running a certain distance every day. — 00:03:53
  • ★★ Ali's process for his YouTube channel is to make one or two videos a week, and other things in life make it very tempting to stray from it. — 00:03:53
  • ★★★ To stay on track, Ali takes a tip from The Motivation Myth: replace "I can't" with "I don't": "I can't eat that cake" frames it as external and he caves, while "I don't" is an identity decision. — 00:05:01
  • ★★ Whenever Ali catches himself saying "I can't", he switches to "I don't": he doesn't eat McDonald's drive-thru because, he jokes, he is going to look like a Gymshark athlete one day; this is his identity. — 00:05:31 · Gymshark
  • ★★★ Since reading The Motivation Myth and Atomic Habits, Ali thinks of goals this way: set a goal, then completely forget about it and focus on the process. — 00:05:31 · Atomic Habits

00:06:00 — Sponsor read for Skillshare and his new class on the principles of productivity

  • ★★ Ali has a brand-new Skillshare class on the principles of productivity: his productivity equation, then three myths, three laws and three powers; it is one part of a three-part series. — 00:06:00 · Skillshare classes
  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Against the conventional wisdom of specialising in one field, Jeff Haden says in The Motivation Myth that people should think like generalists. — 00:06:58
  • ★★★ Ali has preached becoming a jack of all trades to himself and anyone who will listen for a decade: there are many skills to learn that synergise with each other. — 00:06:58

00:07:10 — Serial achievers: generalists, the "and person", Venus Williams, five-to-seven-year seasons, his sabbatical

  • ★★ Ali says innovation in a field rarely comes from narrow specialisation, which gives tunnel vision, but from combining several fields, as a multidisciplinary generalist can to build a company or invent something. — 00:07:44

  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): In The Motivation Myth, Jeff Haden says everyone should try to become an "and person", someone who is this and this and that. — 00:07:44

    “become an and person, like someone who is this and this and this and that”

  • ★★ Ali says he tells himself at night that he is a doctor, YouTuber, podcaster, blogger, musician and magician, stacking "ands" onto his identity, perhaps from an inferiority complex or need to impress. — 00:08:23

  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Jeff Haden's example is Venus Williams: besides being a tennis legend, she has been a successful entrepreneur with her activewear brand and has taken extra degrees. — 00:08:23
  • ★★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): In The Motivation Myth, Jeff Haden says you need not do everything at once: you can get pretty good, almost world-class, at almost anything in five to seven years. — 00:09:01
  • ★★★ Splitting life into five-to-seven-year seasons, Ali, 26, hopes for at least 12 more, so he could get really good at 12 more things, such as salsa dancing or touring music. — 00:09:30
  • ★★★ Ali is taking a one-year sabbatical from medicine from August 2020, which he can do because his businesses and YouTube channel make money on the side. — 00:10:32
  • ★★ Many of Ali's colleagues who are also taking time off from medicine lack that freedom, because they have to do locums and extra shifts to make money. — 00:10:54
  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Jeff Haden says that among the people he has interviewed the happiest seem to be those with several facets of identity, not overly reliant on any one thing going well. (hedged) — 00:10:54
  • ★★ Ali is not sure he buys Jeff Haden's view that stacking up skills is a recipe for happiness, though he allows it may be legit. (hedged) — 00:10:54

00:11:30 — Don't wait for motivation: set the goal, work the plan

  • ★★ Jeff Haden (quoted): Jeff Haden writes that dreams are important but a plan achieves them: don't wait for motivation, get started and work your plan, and you will find the motivation you need. — 00:12:09

In the description and comments

  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for the next Book Club book so viewers can read along, the channel answers that it will probably be Grit. (hedged) — creator comment · Book Club
  • ★ Ali Abdaal (channel): Asked for tips on memorising long paragraphs, the channel answers: don't do it. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: generalist · Jeff Haden · The Motivation Myth

Also: People: Venus Williams · Zac Efron

Projects: Skillshare classes

Works: Atomic Habits

Organizations: Gymshark · McDonald's

Concepts: diversifying your identity · dopamine · identity-based habits

Only in the description or credits: Book Club · Grit (book)

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