Hey guys , and welcome back to another episode of your Brains Coach podcast . My name is Angela Shurina , I'm your host , I'm your Brains Coach and Executive Coach 360 , who is so passionate about bringing you tools , practices , best hacks and tips from the areas of brain , body performance , optimization and adjustments , all with the purpose to help you and us all of us to master our emotions , our thoughts and , most importantly , to take better actions every day . So every day , we could get closer and closer , like 1% closer towards the version of self and our life that we absolutely enjoy being and living . So , you guys , we're talking about motivation , as you guessed from the name of this podcast . And yes , by the end of this not that long podcast , you're going to be in 5% of people who know maybe even less than 5% of people , because 5% of leaders only 5% know how to motivate people and themselves , probably long-term , for long-term goals . You know those pursuits that we make resolutions about on New Year's for the next six months a year , maybe even two , three years , maybe a decade long-term goals . You're going to be in five percent of people , or maybe less than five percent . We actually know number one factor that motivates people .
Speaker 1But before we begin , I want to start with a story , a client of mine . We were having a conversation on Saturday and we usually talk about what happened during the week where we could see potential leverages , things we could work on , improve , and he , like almost at the end of our conversation , he said you know , actually ? And almost at the end of our conversation , he said you know , actually , there was something that happened on Monday that was quite significant . They invited this motivational speaker , a Norwegian woman . So this is the story of my client who she and her team were trekking to the North Pole and , as I understood , they didn't reach it . They faced an icy hill . There was this instance where they faced an icy hill that seemed to stretch endlessly . There was no way of knowing how long it's going to take to go up . Should they go to the right , should they go to the left ? There is no map . There is this big icy thing and you have no idea how to navigate . You cannot use any equipment to figure out what's the best way around . That Tell me of not having playbook in a situation like this . So you just gotta make a decision . So they decided to go over it , through it . But they also realized , because they didn't know when it's going to finish . So the woman realized that they needed something to keep them going . They needed to set up some milestones , some indication of progress . By the end of the day , they get to celebrate something , they get to achieve something , so then they get to look forward to something the next day . So what they did is every day they would set out a dot , a spot in the distance , and that was their destination . And every day , when they reached it , they had something to celebrate . They did it , they made it right . So it got closer , one step closer , even though that step was only in their imagination and they had no idea of knowing how long it's going to take .
Speaker 1But don't you think there is some similarity to our goals that we set ? Yes , you can set a goal to achieve certain income or certain health state on that date , but you know , a lot of things are outside of our control . Yes , there are also a lot of things that are inside of our control , specifically our actions , our attitudes , our thoughts , our emotions , how we make decisions . But we are never guaranteed that life is going to exactly align to meet our plans . You know , aligned to meet our plans . You know man plans . God loves meaning that , yes , we can make progress , but the exact date when we achieve this exact result it's not definite and sometimes it can come sooner , sometimes it can come later and you just gotta figure out how to keep yourself going . Until you figure it out , you gotta keep your motivation going , the drive to persevere , to continue , the desire to stay disciplined . You gotta know how to get it going . And so you're gonna be again , as promised , in 5% of people who know what motivates , number one factor that motivates people long-term .
Speaker 1Speaking back to that woman and the story and how she broke down a long , indefinite pursuit towards finding that North Pole into smaller , manageable daily goals , she probably knew that she probably was in 5% of those leaders who knew that what motivates people the most , what keeps people going , is the sense of progress . Research shows that people find the most motivating thing number one factor to Progress towards meaningful goals , towards meaningful pursuits . Now it's up to you to define meaning and you can define and redefine and connect , reconnect , clarify it to make it stronger . So that's very important for goal pursuit . But once you understand that this goal is truly meaningful , tracking progress , breaking down your long pursuit into smaller milestones , that's what keeps the motivation high . And here's the thing If only 5% of leaders they actually did research on that , on managers specifically know that number one factor that motivates people , no wonder so many people think that motivation doesn't work , that it doesn't last . Maybe because nobody taught them how to create more of that by breaking down your long-term projects into smaller and smaller milestones .
Speaker 1Here's another piece of research for you . Researchers found that people are motivated the most in two places , in two times , at two times pursuing goals , a goals . So we are very motivated and that is across the board . As long as you have a human brain not even human brain , mammal brain it works even in mice . So we have the most motivation . At the beginning of pursuit of the goal , we are excited , we're high on it , we can't wait to get started and get our first wins and feel like , yeah , we're capable , it's possible . This new level of I don't know excellence or financial income , or a new fitness goal or a new body , we are eager to work on it right . So at the beginning , research shows that's one of the times that we find a lot of motivation , naturally . And then the second time is at the end of pursuit of the goal . So when we feel like we're getting closer to the reward , to the ends , to the point where we can celebrate and we can show off our achievements and we can get the reward internal , external , whatever that might be that's where we also speed up and we intensify our efforts , we feel motivated . But then guess what ?
Speaker 1The lowest point of motivation is in the middle , and the problem with long-term goals is that middle is quite the middle and the problem with long-term goals is that middle is quite freaking long . You take six months project , yearly project two , three or a decade project . Like your middle is a lot of years or a lot of months , a lot of weeks . So how do researchers propose you deal with that ? And what works in research for human psyche ? What works to bump up our motivation in that middle ? We artificially sometimes we also have those milestones , but very often , like that Norwegian woman , we artificially create milestones that we get to celebrate often , ideally every day . Sometimes you work on something that hard that you need to celebrate something several times per day . So creating those small milestones , making the middle shorter and showing your brain that you are moving towards the goal , that you are making progress , which is number one factor that motivates human brain Breaking down your goal into smaller milestones that you get to celebrate very often , very frequently . That shows your brain that you're making progress . That is how you make your motivation last throughout the longest project .
Speaker 1And again , many people just don't understand how it works and you skip this step . Heck , I still skip this step with my clients because at the end of the story I didn't finish . The client told me you know , I feel like I don't actually have this . We're working on this goal . So we lost , with my client , 20 kilos and we are working on the last 10 percentages of body fat , because now he cares more about muscle mass and body fat . And we are working on the last 10 percentages of body fat because now he cares more about muscle mass and body fat . So we are working on that . But it's still a long goal . It can take 10 to 20 weeks to reach that . And he told me you know , angela , I don't feel like we have this . We're just working on this big goal and I don't feel like I'm winning ever . And I said to myself ah , I did a bad job . And I told him I did a bad job here by not helping you to break down this longer goal into smaller micro steps and milestones that we get to celebrate every day , every week . So we did that after .
Speaker 1And then I looked at my 100-day challenge , where I decided that I'm going to endure and I'm going to work every day , where I decided that I'm going to endure and I'm going to work every day . And also I decided that I'm going to read 33 books , which I read four of them already . But I also realized that I don't celebrate when I finish the book , that I don't have any milestone except that endure for 100 days . But how do you know if you're making any progress , if you are enduring for something ? And I asked myself these questions and I had no answer . I'm like , yeah , you did not set up any milestones , you did not make it meaningful , you did not make the middle shorter , and no wonder it's day 12 and you're feeling deflated , like you've made no progress , you made no wins , and it's only day 12 and you have so many to go and maybe you're going to fail . That's what my brain is starting to tell me .
Speaker 1When we don't break down big , long goals into milestones and we have only one win , at the end , your brain starts talking yourself out of it because it doesn't feel like you're making progress . The number one factor that motivates human being progress and your brain doesn't see it . And that's when we're quick , when we fail , when we make decisions that it's not worth it , that it's not working , and maybe it's not supposed to work for the next 100 days , but fully , and maybe it will take more than 100 days or whatever that goal is . But you need to make sure that you're moving somewhere , that you are making progress , and you need to show that to your brain . In breaking your long goals into milestones , I also defined it very well like what progress means .
Speaker 1With the client , we decided you know , I just care that's what he told me about my body fat at this moment going down . So now we're at 30 and I want to see it at 29 , whatever that is , but at 29 . I'm like , okay , that is a doable , manageable milestone for the next week . And then we brainstorm okay , how are we going to make sure that we are making progress towards it ? Where can we make improvements ? And we brainstorm suggestions from clients' life and then we chose a couple . Right ? So these are the things that might be missing for you and that's why you don't feel motivated when you set goal . It's only January being end of January .
Speaker 1Maybe you're listening to this podcast at some other time but realize if you are right now at a spot where you have a big goal and you start feeling like maybe it's not worth it , maybe I'm not capable , maybe it's the wrong , maybe it's not the wrong thing , maybe it's the right thing , but you need to break it down into milestones and define clearly what progress means so you can track that progress , so you make yourself feel like a winner , so you could see tangible progress towards that goal in some way . So your brain feels like you're making progress , so you feel the celebration , so you shorten the middle where your motivation is at lowest , and you hit all these points and you get your motivation to be higher than average , so you get the energy to pursue those long-term goals . You know you take Elon Musk , you take Richard Branson , you take any artist , entrepreneur , like whoever you admire . It takes years to get significant progress and get some recognition , some great recognition from the world . How are you going to continue for those years ? This is how you define progress . You break down your goal into concrete , smaller milestones that you get to celebrate and you make it a point to acknowledge your wins .
Speaker 1If not every day or several times per day , then I don't know every other day . It's got to be pretty damn frequent . And don't forget that only 5% , even leaders , know that this is the number one thing that motivates people . That's been proven in research . So don't be surprised if most people don't do it . Heck , I forget to do it . With 15 years of coaching under my belt , I forget to do it for myself . And then I'm surprised why am I not motivated ? And I'm deflated .
Speaker 1And the thing is with your motivation . Not only your motivation goes down , your energy goes down . This is the way of brain of telling you this is a waste of our time . Go switch , your energy goes down . This is the way of brain of telling you this is a waste of our time . Go switch your attention somewhere else . You lose energy , you lose motivation just to get there . And you'll notice as soon as you start doing something new and that's where entrepreneurial jump around happens you start doing something new , you get back this energy and you start thinking , oh , this might be the thing . No , it just . Your brain got tired of seeing no progress for so damn long that anything will feel like an improvement and that's it . That's the trick of our psychology .
Speaker 1So you have a long-term goal right now . Make sure that you know how you measure progress . Ideally , you have several indicators of progress , that you are on the right track . Even more ideally , you have the quit criteria . Maybe this goal , or the way you do it , isn't working or is not going to work , so you need to have a criteria when you know whether it's working or not . But beyond that , make sure to break down your goal into milestones , something to celebrate daily , something to show the progress to your brain , so you get your motivation higher , so you get your energy higher , so you get to pursue long-term goals and create excellence . And that's , my friend , what I wanted to talk to you about .
Speaker 1If this podcast was helpful , please do share it with at least one other person , because so many people have no idea how to motivate themselves and we are losing so much of human potential to nothingness . So please do share this podcast episode . We don't run any ads and we appreciate you sharing and making and helping me to help more people , help people with dreams and goals and wanting to make a world a better place to do so right . So share this podcast episode , the most important thing except besides the learning and improving yourself . Then also do rate , review this podcast . It also helps us to reach more people on any platform where you find this podcast .
Speaker 1Thank you , guys , for listening . Thank you for paying attention . Today is Monday on this side of the world , no matter what day it is , for you realize that your brain has the thing , the progress that you need to create sense of if you want to go after long-term goals and go get after it , no matter what day of the week it is . You can do it . You have what it takes and that might be a worthy pursuit . Just learn how to self-motivate and teach others . Thank you , guys , and I'll talk to you very soon .