The willpower paradox: when confident self-talk becomes counterproductive
We all have used self-talk to motivate ourselves. “I will meditate everyday” gives us a boost in confidence and conviction that we will achieve our goals. However, research suggests we may benefit from being a little bit more speculative when considering our goals (I will).
Treating the future as an open question
Changing the structure of our self-talk from a declarative to an interrogative one could make us more motivated and more likely to achieve our goals
- Asking ourselves a question is more effective than giving ourselves an order
Making space for intrinsic motivation
Many of our goals originate from an external source, whether it’s societal pressure, the desire to get a promotion at work, or the fear of being judged
- While extrinsic motivation works great in the short term, it will only last as long as you consider the external rewards to be satisfying
- In contrast, with intrinsic motivation, the reason why you act is internal
- By using interrogative self-talk, you are giving yourself more time to build intrinsic motivation
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