Ideas for Motivation, Productivity, and Focus from “Smarter, Faster, Better”
I’m following through with my promise to read and review an inspiring book each month. This is a challenge I set for myself this year, and although it’s been a serious time commitment to read and review a different book each month, I’m learning so much from the process.
And, in the end, learning is what it’s all about, right? That’s one of the takeaways I got from this late read, “Faster, Smarter, Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity,” by Charles Duhigg. (#Ad)
I’ve mentioned Duhigg’s writing in prior posts including one on Atomic Habits and a previous one on habits during quarantine. He is the author of one of my favorite non-fiction books, “The Power of Habit. (#Ad)
Although the Power of Habit was narrowly focused on the concept of habits- how we form, change, and replace them, Faster, Smarter, Better is just as interesting a read as his prior book. Below, I’ll give a short overview of the overall book and follow it up with the takeaways that are most easily applied to one’s personal life.
Table of Contents
Smarter, Better, Faster: An Overview
Self-help or inspirational books can usually be boiled down to a few main ideas. Smarter, Faster, Better is not one of those books. Charles Duhigg set out to learn about what motivates people, makes them productive, and sets the most successful people apart from others (at least where productivity and focus are concerned).
This resulted in a book that covers a variety of topics. It’s almost an interdisciplinary approach to looking at what motivates us and keeps us headed toward our goals, which is what hooked me into the book from the start.
Duhigg is a thorough researcher. He backs up information he presents with social science research. That said, he’s also a gifted storyteller. For each chapter, there were several stories that vividly illustrated the concepts he was highlighting.
Overall, the book is geared toward individuals as they seek personal accomplishments and fulfilment as well as those in management positions who want to accomplish the same through leadership in their organizations. As such, the book covers one topic per chapter, and the individual and team concepts alternate throughout the book.
Here are the chapter topics in order:
- Motivation
- Teams
- Focus
- Goal Setting
- Managing Others
- Decision-Making
- Innovation
- Absorbing Data
For purposes of this blog, which focuses on self-care and personal development, I am going to focus on just those topics that seem most geared toward individuals. That said, I highly recommend reading the entire book, as I can see how the other chapters can be applied at the workplace, classroom, and within families.
What I love about the book is that the end has an appendix where the author explains how he uses these different concepts and incorporated them into the process he took in writing the book. It’s a great example of using what you learn and learning from it as you teach others.
Personal Takeaways from Smarter, Faster, Better
For the purposes of this article, I’ll be focusing on Motivation, Focus, Goal Setting, Decision-Making, and Absorbing Data, as I found those are the most relatable to individuals.
Motivation
There are many components to personal motivation and Duhigg touches on ones I’ve read about. Although he may not use these terms direction, he’s talking about grit (that perseverence to keep learning and practicing even when it seems you’re not getting anywhere or deriving pleasure from the task) and growth mindset, which I wrote about when I reviewed the book Mindset by Carol Dweck.
That said, Duhigg points out that the initial motivation to get started, even when we seem to have no clear direction for ourselves, has a couple of main features. And, he points out that it is not reserved to a talented few. Motivation, Duhigg explains, is a skill you can learn and improve with repeated practice.
Here are 2 main components to inspire that spark of motivation:
Make Decisions. Duhigg notes that people need to feel a sense of autonomy and control over their lives. Without that, they have no desire to do things. So, if you’re lacking motivation, identify some areas where you have choices. Then, make a decision so you can feel a sense of control and self-determination.
Find Your Why. This is another concept I’ve explored in past articles such as this post, where I review the book, Start with Why by Simon Sinek. I am so glad to see that Duhigg found what I have been learning- knowing your purpose- the why behind what you do- is the best way to motivate yourself even when you lack direction or feel lost in the midst of your journey. Moreover, doing so with a growth mindset – a belief that you can get to where you believe you are meant to be- will propel you there. As Duhigg suggests, when you encounter a difficult part of your journey, “link something hard to a choice you care about.” As long as you find the meaning behind your decision, you will be motivated to see it through.
Focus
Focus is another area that seems to separate the gifted and talented from those of us who feel unproductive. This is especially true today, when we are bombarded by distractions- by those around us and by the technology we use.
Duhigg explains that part of how our brains survive the daily onslaught of sensory stimulation is by defaulting to a state of autopilot when we do something that is a regular part of our lives. This happens when we’re driving a car, brushing our teeth, or engaging in routine aspects of our lives and work. It is the brain’s method of conserving energy and it helps us process only what we need to at the time we should be focusing on it.
That said, it leaves us vulnerable to zoning out and not being able to properly react during a crisis. In fact, it can lead to a crisis, which would otherwise be averted had we remained alert to some of what was taking place around us.
Duhigg explains that when we are coming off of autopilot to react to a crisis situation, we may not know where to focus our minds. He calls this “cognitive tunneling,” and what it does is leave us hyper-focused on the most available stimuli, even if that will not solve the problem that’s arisen.
He also noted that these types of situations also lead to “reactive thinking,” which means we fall back on a default emergency response, even if it isn’t appropriate for the particular crisis at hand. This kind of thinking takes places when we are taken by surprise by a crisis situation.
What is the solution? Duhigg notes that those who are best at avoiding and handling crises or difficult situations are those who make a habit of creating “mental models.” In other words, they are regularly assessing their daily situations and create a working storyline of how things are supposed to go. This way, when there’s a deviation from the script, they identify the problem sooner and have a mental model of how to handle the situation.
This reminds me of the concept of scripting- writing the story of how our day is supposed to go as a means of bringing it about in our lives. The “mental models” are a more expansive view of this type of storytelling.
The takeaway? Create a narrative about how things are supposed to be (with your work projects, your family situations, etc.) and you’ll notice when something is off. More importantly, be sure to do this on a regular basis and be really detailed with your mental model. It will help you focus on the right information when it’s time to react.
Goal-Setting & Stretch Goals
This was the section that interested me most. I am all about the goal setting and write a lot about this topic. I find that setting goals helps keep me motivated.
Duhigg mentioned one of the first types of goal setting models, that I have covered in a prior article: setting SMART goals. (See prior post here). The SMART acronym refers to goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-centered.
Lots of companies have used this model to make sure that their employees are on track to come up with goals that help the company and are doable within a set time frame. However, Duhigg explained that while SMART goals can be helpful in theory, in practice, it can lead to setting goals that do not really move a person or organization very far. This is because, when people are instructed to just stick within these limited “SMART” parameters, they are likely to set goals that are easy to achieve but don’t involve much risk or lead to greater aspirations.
So, he noted that successful people and companies are now pairing SMART goals with Stretch goals. Stretch goals are ones that are more challenging and difficult to attain. In some cases they may seem impossible.
That said, when you pair SMART goals with Stretch goals, it is possible to achieve things that seem unattainable. The way to do this, and I’m simplifying, is to break down your Stretch goal (that reaching for the brass ring goal) into mini-goals that are based on more of a SMART goals model. It means that, while you aspire for something much higher than you previously have achieved, you approach it by looking for sub-goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-centered.
So, it’s all about striking a balance between having Stretch goals- which are intimidating and seem impossible- and SMART goals, which give a sense of purpose, direction, and confidence that things can be achieved.
Decision-Making
Again, in our modern world, we are faced with thousands of decisions, some of which will have a lasting impact on our lives. Duhigg set about to learn how people make decisions and how some seem to make better decisions (i.e., ones that lead to more positive outcomes) than others.
He notes that good decision-making is premised on our ability to forecast the likely outcome of our choices. Some folks excel at this, even though the future is (by its very nature) unwritten and seemingly unpredictable.
Those who do have developed what Duhigg terms, “probabilistic thinking” tend to be the best decision-makers By this he means that they are able to see the future as a set of multiple possible outcomes rather than just looking for the one likely outcome. And, the way to engage in this type of thinking is to gather as much information as possible about the decision and its potential outcomes.
In other words, he is asking not just to guess, but to make an educated guess when it comes to our decisions. And, the way to do this is to learn as much as possible- not just about the outcome you desire, but also about the potential for outcomes that you don’t. Duhigg challenges us to be courageous in our decision-making, as we have to do the uncomfortable work of contemplating the unwanted outcome of our decisions.
Another concept the book introduces is “Bayesian cognition,” which is the act of identifying certain patterns that predict particular outcomes. Although it is based on a mathematical formula, those who are able to engage in this type of thinking end up running through various models that help us predict possible outcomes. We then apply what we know about our world, and that helps us to narrow down our prediction to those that are the most likely (whether good or bad).
What this kind of exercise does is basically remove some of the emotion from our decision-making and help us to make decisions based on information rather than feelings. Of course, our intuition, experience, and gut instincts play a role, but they don’t overrule facts and knowledge we gather about the situation.
Absorbing Data
Duhigg’s final chapter is really fascinating because it brings together a lot of what he covers throughout the rest of the book. Absorbing data is just a fancy way to say learning. And, when we learn, we are able to make better decisions, which in turn can motivate us to be more productive and satisfied with the choices we’ve made.
He starts the book by pointing out that we have a tendency to shut down when faced with lots of information to process. This is particularly true when there is a lot of disorganized information that is unfamiliar to us. The way we shut down is what he calls, “information blindness.” Basically, when we are overloaded with information that we can’t easily absorb, we boil down our decisions to two things- sift through the mess of overwhelming info or set it aside for another time. This is such a key factor to procrastination.
But, Duhigg has a solution for this as well. He notes we absorb data more easily when our brains can break it down into different categories- what he calls “winnowing” or “scaffolding.” These scaffolds are compared to “file cabinets filled with folders that help us store and access information when the need arises.” He notes that experts are able to do this- they know what information is important for particular aspects of their expertise. They are able to set aside what they don’t need to worry about and only focus on what’s important.
The best way to do this, he says, is to create “disfluency.” Basically, we start to work with the information – use it in some way that breaks it down or plays around with it. For this, he gives examples such as taking some of the information and organizing it in categories that you create based on patterns you notice. You can also try creating flow charts with it or run it by a friend to get their thoughts on it. Anything that forces you to think about the information in a different way will help you to break it down and start to learn about it.
And, Duhigg notes, the more effortful the method you use to work with the information, the better. So, use hand-written notes to analyze the data or try a variety different flow chart models for the same information. The more you manipulate the data creates disfluency, and this ironically results in learning about and absorbing the data that was once so confusing. In fact, one way to create disfluency is to teach concepts that you’ve learned to others.
And with that, you will see the purpose of this article- it is my attempt to make sure I grasped all the concepts I studied in this book. By writing this post, I created my own disfluency with the material and feel like I understand it all the better.
What books are you reading to help make yourself “smarter, faster, better?” Are there any you’d like to see reviewed? Leave a comment below!
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