Topic for Feb 22 (Mon)

[Claire!!]

Psychology: How to do something you don't really want to do

 Jim knew that had to study for a test in Algebra but it was his friend's birthday and he wanted to help him celebrate. Algebra wasn't his favorite subject but he needed to get a good grade to earn all of his credits to graduate. He tried to work on it during the afternoon but it seemed like he could find time to do just about everything but study. He went out for a birthday dinner with his friend and the evening slipped away. Jim never did find time to study. Before going to sleep that night he wondered why it was so hard to do things you don't really want to do!

Let's face it, there are a lot of things in life that we do, that we don't really want to do. How about getting up at 5:30 a.m. in the cold and dark of a winter morning to get ready for a long and sometimes difficult commute to work? Or staying up late and studying for an exam or writing a paper about a subject that we aren't really that interested in? What about skipping the ice-cream cake in the freezer and eating an apple for dessert instead?

How many of us really prefer to do those things that are difficult or any of the many things that we do every day that we don't really want to do? Just what is it about us that makes it so hard to do the things we "should" do and so easy to do the things we want to do? Is there any way that we could reverse that experience so that it would be easier and more efficient to do the things we "should" or need to do and harder to do the things we are better off not doing?

When you think about it, it is pretty amazing that we do as well as we do given the way our brains are built. Although we are far from perfect, we humans generally do better than most living things in delaying gratification and doing things that benefit us in the long run. Can you imagine a gorilla refusing to eat something it enjoys because it might gain weight or raise its cholesterol? Still, life seems to be a struggle between doing what feels good and doing things we need to do for a greater purpose.

One of the reasons for the struggle is that our brain is literally hard "wired" to prefer things which produces immediate pleasure or reinforcement. Immediate pleasure "lights up" our midbrain and imprints the behavior as desirable, even though it may be counterproductive or harmful in the long run. This is due to our brain being built for immediate survival with a natural bias towards short-term over long term gain. In a way our brain is built to "live in the moment" which leaves us engaging in behaviors that produce more immediate reward and sometimes forsaking goals that take longer to realize.

Our hope lies in the fact that we are "self-programming" and have the ability to alter some of our characteristic ways of behaving if we find them self-defeating. So how do we become better at delaying gratification in order to do some of the things we need to do and achieve more important gains in the long run? Psychology experts in motivation, goal setting and achievement have made the following suggestions:

*Think through thoroughly what goals you actually feel are important to achieve. Use all parts of your brain to facilitate success by writing down the goal and the action steps needed to get there. Also, imagine the actions steps and completing the goal in your mind's eye and then use the verbal part of your brain to describe the actions steps and the goal. Finally, create a plan to measure and reward the progress in small steps so that you can be reinforced sooner.

*Try the simplest approach of "powering through" an activity or behavior you don't really want to do in order to reach a larger goal by taking it one step at a time and reinforcing each small step by commending yourself for completion. Once you have reached the goal, the great satisfaction of having succeeded is reinforcing in itself and should make it easier to do the next time. Exercising is a good example of that, whereby completing the exercise session you feel so good about yourself it makes it much more likely you will go through it again to achieve the same feeling!

*Reframe the activity you don't want to do to be seen as part of the accomplishment of reaching the larger goal that you really do want. In other words, change your thinking away from, "I don't want to do this" into "I do want to" because that is how I will get to the goal I really want. For Jim, that might mean saying to himself and making an effort to produce the feeling that, "I want to do the difficult task of studying for my test because I really want a good grade in the class so that I can go to the college of my choice". This means, making an effort to think ahead of what is important.

*Look for something in the activity that you do like or enjoy rather than focus on the part you don't like. Focus on some desired aspect of the activity and minimize thinking about the negative aspects. One high school student who didn't like going to school helped himself by looking forward to lunch period as a way to help motivate himself to get up in the morning.

*If you can't find something in the activity you do like, try adding something you like to the activity. This helps you to focus on the more desirable part of the activity and gives you something to look forward too. Adding your favorite music to go along with your scheduled work-out is a great example of this approach.

*Another approach is to "self-incentivize" by making access to reinforcement contingent upon doing the required activity first. It would be something like, "Once I finish reading my biology assignment I can go to the student union and get a piece of pizza". This approach requires self-discipline in order to do the work first but is highly effective as a self-motivator.

Of course some people seem better at delaying gratification than others. Doing things that are difficult or that we don't really want to do is one of the keys to success in our modern world. If we are able to learn that skill, there is no limit to what we can accomplish!

http://www.capitalgazette.com/lifestyle/health/ph-ac-smith-0217-20160217-story.html

[Claire!!]

Sorry, I won't be able to join the class on Mon. See you guys on Tuesday ^^

[Alex !]

Thank you for the heads-up, Claire.
Have a beautiful weekend.