Boost Motivation by Focusing on Potential Losses, Not Profits
Do you want to get additional impetus to achieve your goals? According to a recent study, you can increase your motivation by 50 percent simply by changing the form of the incentive.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who focus on losing the reward are more motivated to exercise than those who focus on winning the reward. In a study of 281 adults, the goal was to take 7,000 steps a day. One group had an “incentive” to make $ 1.40 every day they hit their goal. The other had a “lottery incentive”: they had a chance to win $ 1.40 every day that they achieved their goal. And the third group had an incentive to lose: they were paid $ 42 upfront every month, but were deducted $ 1.40 every day when the target was not met. Some were also assigned to a control group with daily feedback but no financial incentive.
After 13 weeks of tracking and an additional 13 weeks with feedback but no incentives, the loss incentive group achieved a 50% better goal than the control or profit incentive groups.
To apply this insight to your life, try turning what you usually think of as positive “earnings” into a loss that you want to avoid . For example, instead of pampering yourself with a new pair of sneakers if you walk every day for the next month, buy some sneakers – and then force yourself to return them if you miss your goal in the allotted time. (It is probably best not to wear them during this test.)
Financial Incentives to Increase Physical Activity in Overweight and Obese Adults | Annals of Internal Medicine via PsyBlog