You Can Do it!
Monday morning reminds us how important it is to choose a job you love. A positive thought in the morning changes your entire day.
Quote for the week
The difference (in successful people) is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom.
James Clear (Atomic Habits)
The Goldilocks Principle: Finding the Sweet Spot
I remember the first time we took our son to a tennis court to hit some balls. He was 7 years old, and he had a hard time connecting the ball to his racquet. The more we tried, the more he got frustrated. We realized that we needed to start him in the basics and slowly build up on the skills. We took him to the tennis court every day with a can of balls and patiently fed him the balls to hit. It was one step at a time and progressed slowly and steadily and soon started winning tournaments against kids his age. His tennis journey was a fulfilling one built on a strong and steady foundation. The key was to keep him in his “sweet spot” as stated by the Goldilocks Principle.
The Goldilocks Principle is a concept that is based on the idea that there is an optimal point, a “sweet spot,” where things are just right. Finding this sweet spot can be the key to success in many different endeavors.
The origin of Goldilocks Principle comes from the well-known children’s story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” In the story, Goldilocks tries out three bowls of porridge, three chairs, and three beds, searching for the ones that are “just right.” The principle can be seen as a metaphor for the idea that there is an optimal point or range for any given variable, whether it’s the temperature of your coffee or the amount of time you spend exercising.
The Goldilocks Principle can also be applied to motivation. Finding the right level of motivation is crucial for achieving success and staying productive.
Why and how does it work? It all comes down to achieving a state of flow. When you are in the zone, where the work is challenging enough, but doable, you are at peak efficiency. Your ability to tackle problems and make progress is motivating to reach higher goals.
How to find the sweet spot and be in a state of flow? Here are a few things to think about that will help you trigger this state of mind.
- Assess the task at hand
It starts with your goal. Assess the difficulty of the goal vs your current skill level. Before you do anything, take an honest assessment of what you’re facing. How hard is it? How good are you at the skills it requires? Understand what you’re facing. - Slow and steady wins the race
Build the skills necessary to achieve the goal. Over time, you’ll achieve the ability to scale and excel in a much more enjoyable state of mind. - Measure your progress
Finally, it’s important to track and measure your progress as you attempt these efforts. If you start a task and get bored with it, then you know you need to raise the difficulty level. If you get frustrated, then maybe you’re trying to do too much too fast.
The next time you’re bored, demotivated, or procrastinating on a task, remember the sweet spot and state of flow and run through these steps and see if you can capture the motivation you’ve been chasing.