How to build and maintain momentum for learning

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture notes on goal setting, motivation, habit formation, and flow states.

Long-Term Goals

Goals lasting three to five years, often referred to as 'career focus'.

Medium-Term Goals

Specific topics or certifications to focus on, requiring a bit of stretch but not unrealistic, e.g., three to five weeks to complete.

Short-Term Goals

The daily actions or 'daily grind' that progress towards a larger goal.

Going Public with Goals

Research suggests that announcing goals publicly can release dopamine, making one feel they've already accomplished it, thus killing motivation.

Focus on Process vs. Outcome

It's more effective to focus on daily actions and progress (the process) rather than the long-term outcomes to build momentum and avoid losing focus or motivation.

Identity-Driven Actions

Our actions are largely driven by our identity ('What kind of person am I? What would a person like me do?'). Forming effective habits can change our identity, creating a self-reinforcing loop.

Continuous Learning as Identity

For IT professionals, learning should be a core part of their professional identity.

Social Aspect of Identity

We are hardwired to follow the habits and standards of our 'tribe,' and identifying with new tribes or acting based on an aspirational identity can help in changing habits.

Mindset

A collection of thoughts and beliefs that shape our identity, affecting how we think, feel, and act.

Fixed Mindset

The belief that basic abilities, intelligence, and talents are fixed traits, unchangeable with effort.

Growth Mindset

The belief that learning and intelligence can grow with time, effort, and experience; abilities can be developed from a starting point.

External Motivation

Motivation derived from outside factors, such as lucrative earning potential, social respect, career safety (aiming towards gains) or avoiding loss (fear-based).

Cost of Doing Nothing

The potential loss of opportunities or stagnation that results from not making a choice or taking action, especially relevant in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world and the shortening half-life of skills.

Internal Motivation

Motivation driven by intrinsic factors, consisting of three main drivers: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy (Internal Motivation)

The feeling of being in control of your own life and choices, leading to taking responsibility for actions and building motivation.

Learned Helplessness

A state that occurs when individuals focus on things they cannot influence or decide, leading to a loss of motivation and the belief that their actions don't matter.

Mastery (Internal Motivation)

A sense of progress, where tasks are challenging enough (about 4%4% above current performance) to prevent boredom but not so hard as to cause failure, providing small doses of dopamine.

Logarithmic Growth

Progress that is steep in the beginning but slows down significantly over time due to natural limits (e.g., athletic performance, weight loss).

Exponential Growth (Compound Interest)

Progress that starts slowly but accelerates over time, building momentum through consistent, moderate effort (e.g., investing, building a personal brand).

Purpose (Internal Motivation)

The internal drive that gives meaning to work and aligns actions with core values, fueling sustained motivation.

Habits

Automatic actions performed without much conscious energy, managed by System 1 of the brain.

System One (Brain)

The unconscious, automatic, and effortless part of the brain responsible for about 98% of thinking, including habits.

System Two (Brain)

The conscious, rational, slow, and effortful part of the brain responsible for about 2% of thinking.

Habit Loop

The brain's mechanism for forming habits, consisting of cue, craving (desire), response (action), and reward.

Cue (Habit Loop)

A trigger or signal that tells the brain to initiate a behavior; can be external (e.g., sight, sound) or internal (e.g., anxiety). Common cues relate to time and location.

Implementation Intention

A plan made beforehand about when and where to act in a certain way (e.g., 'I will do X behavior at X time in X location'), crucial for building difficult habits.

Craving/Desire (Habit Loop)

The motivational force, fueled by dopamine, that pushes us to act in response to a cue. The dopamine boost from the cue can be greater than from the reward, making habits stick.

Response/Action (Habit Loop)

The actual behavior or routine performed in response to the cue and craving. Making this action easy to implement increases the likelihood of it occurring.

Reward (Habit Loop)

The positive outcome that reinforces the habit, providing a dose of dopamine. Important in early stages, with immediate rewards helping to sustain motivation towards delayed goals.

Deliberate Practice

A way of practice involving mindful, focused repetition with specific goals for improving particular aspects of performance, often challenging the status quo (e.g., 4%4% harder than current skill level).

Elements of Deliberate Practice

1. Best practices, 2. Pre-repetition planning, 3. Focused activity, 4. Feedback, 5. Recovery, 6. Repetition.

Flow State ('In the Zone')

An optimal state of performance and being where one is completely absorbed in a task, with full focus, merging action and awareness, distorted sense of time, and enhanced performance.

Flow Cycle

A four-phase process to achieve flow: 1. Struggle (absorbing information, tension), 2. Release (stepping away, relaxing, chemical shift), 3. Flow (complete absorption), 4. Recovery (replenishing resources).

Flow Triggers

Conditions that help induce a flow state, such as complete focus on the present, immediate feedback, clear goals, appropriate challenge-skills ratio (4%4% outside comfort zone), high consequences, deep embodiment, and rich environment.