The Motivation Toolkit
Beat the middle slump: shrink the goal, bundle the temptation, engineer the ending.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 92%
Shankar's motivation toolkit bundles three behavioral-science tactics. First, break big goals into small ones — this delivers short-term wins and shrinks the demotivating middle, since motivation peaks at a goal's start and end but slumps in the long middle. Second, temptation bundling pairs a hard task with an immediately rewarding thing you otherwise deny yourself. Third, exploit the peak-end rule by deliberately ending each session on a positive note so you remember it favorably and return.
Origin
When Shankar signed her book deal she was convinced she'd have to return the advance, so she engineered her own motivation using these tools — a candy bowl of coffee chews reserved only for writing, and small two-week sub-goals.
Core principles
- 01Big goals are psychologically daunting because rewards only arrive months or years out.
- 02Motivation peaks at the start and end of a goal and slumps in the middle — the middle problem.
- 03Breaking a big goal into small ones shortens the demotivating middle.
- 04Temptation bundling pairs a hard task with an otherwise-off-limits reward.
- 05The peak-end rule means we overweight the most intense moment and the ending when we remember an experience.
How to run it
- 1
Break big goals into small ones
Split a multi-year goal into short, achievable sub-goals that deliver a sense of accomplishment soon.
Pro tip Shorter goals mean a shorter middle, so you're less likely to fall off the wagon.
Watch out A year-long goal has a months-long motivational middle where most people quit.
- 2
Bundle temptations
Pair the challenging task with an immediately rewarding thing you only allow yourself during that task.
Pro tip Shankar reserved coffee-chew candies for writing sessions and favorite music for workouts only.
- 3
Engineer the ending
Deliberately end each session on a positive, easy note so the peak-end rule makes you remember it favorably.
Pro tip After a brutal workout add two minutes of gentle stretching; after a hard writing block, map a few bullets for the next chapter.
In the wild
Overwhelmed by a multi-year book goal, Shankar set a small two-week sub-goal to just find fascinating people to interview, reserved coffee-chew candy for writing sessions only, and ended painful sessions by mapping the next chapter's bullets.
→ She sustained motivation through the long middle and completed the book.
Common mistakes
Keeping the goal one giant block
A single multi-year goal has a months-long motivational middle where you're most likely to give up.
Ending sessions on the hardest moment
Because we overweight the end in memory, quitting at the point of maximum frustration makes you dread returning.
Is it for you?
Best for
People pursuing multi-year or multi-month goals who fall off in the middle.
Not ideal for
Short one-off tasks where motivation was never the bottleneck.
From the transcript
“Break big goals into small, manageable, achievable goals that will give you a feeling of accomplishment in the short term”
“It's called the peak end rule. So what does this mean? It means that we can actually shape the end of our experience to reflect…”
From the episode
Dr. Maya Shankar: The Science of Decision Making
Dr. Maya Shankar