Good morning and welcome to the Increasing Impact Podcast. I'm Justin Sua, episode 1734. Today we are talking

about the goal gradient theory. I have mentioned this before, but I think today is a good day to

revisit it. The goal gradient theory simply states that when you come closer to your finish line, you are going to increase your

effort. You see it. It's close. You're going to increase your effort to finish strong.

Now, once you cross the finish line, your effort goes down. You start hitting the breaks because

you achieved the goal. Now, that's great. And it's also true for

human performance. It's true for goals. How often do you sprint to the finish line in life? You see

that number you're trying to achieve. You see that goal you're trying to achieve. He go as hard as you can.

And then what happens? Once you hit that weight, once you hit that goal, once you hit that goal you're trying to achieve. It go as hard as you can. And then what happens? Once you hit that

weight, once you hit that goal, once you hit that milestone, what happens to effort? You start to

take your foot off the gas. And next thing you know, it's hard to find the motivation to get back and

you find yourself right back where you started all of that hard work, all of that momentum gone because you quote unquote hit your goal. That's called a goal gradient

theory. So what do you do about it? What you do is once you cross the finish line, yes,

celebrate your success, but immediately, immediately set up the next goal post, set up the next

task, the next process. Now another way, the next task the next process now another way which is probably

even a better way is to focus on the process over the results turn your goal your finish lines into

mile markers and allow your momentum allow your process allow your system to continue to build off of it. Know that the finish line isn't really a finish line. It's more of a mile marker for you. Okay, now the next one, now the next one. And when you have that mindset, you just know that you're running a marathon and not a sprint. You're in it for the long run. And so you're going to create habits that

will help you build your engine, build your capacity to keep going. And it also helps you fall in love

with the process. Because when you fall in love with the process, you will outperform anyone who does

it for the results, for anyone who does it for status or money or the power.

If you just do it because you love doing it,

you are going to stay in the game a lot longer and find so much more enjoyment.

...