406: How Successful People See the World with Emily Balcetis

04/08/20 • 40 min

How Successful People See the World with Emily Balcetis

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I ran out of laundry detergent last week and couldn’t motivate myself to walk 20 steps to the store to buy more. Why? I can lecture for hours, interview an author for the podcast, answer 70+ emails, and spend time with all three of my kids in one day, but the laundry detergent errand felt impossible.

I have periods of manic productivity with breakthroughs at every turn, but other times when the most mundane chores of life are overwhelming. Why? Where does motivation come from? Why does it waver? On this week’s podcast, you’ll meet a psychologist who can help you find your fuel for life. Listen & Learn:

How the fantasy of a goal can sometimes create enough pleasure to reduce motivation to actually achieve it
How to avoid under-stimulation without accidentally welcoming overwhelm
When it can be helpful to look back and anchor past successes
When it makes more sense to focus on the future, the next step

Links & Resources:

Emily Balcetis is a social psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University. Her research focuses on people's perception of the world and how their motivations and emotions influence it. She is the author of the new book: Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

Silver for COVID19

Got Questions?

Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
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How Successful People See the World with Emily Balcetis

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How the fantasy of a goal can sometimes create enough pleasure to reduce motivation to actually achieve it
How to avoid under-stimulation without accidentally welcoming overwhelm
When it can be helpful to look back and anchor past successes
When it makes more sense to focus on the future, the next step

Links & Resources:

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

Silver for COVID19

Got Questions?

Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
Or write to us: [email protected]

Like the Show?

Leave us a Review on iTunes

Previous Episode

405: Premature with Sarah Digregorio

Premature Sarah Digregorio-----------------

Once a month I have to tell a pregnant yoga student that she cannot practice in our studio, cannot hang upside down in the Yoga Trapeze, or practice long-hold, passive stretches in our Gravity Yoga classes. Why? We teach strong, athletic classes with inversions and deep stretches. It’s not safe. I’ve been accused of trying to tell women what to do with their bodies (and worse!), but the truth is, I just want to keep students safe, including the unborn ones. On this week’s podcast, you’ll meet a journalist whose premature birth served as the impetus for the research and writing of an entire book on the history of premature birth that includes oven-incubated babies and circus sideshow preemies. Listen & Learn:

How incubators for preemies were first introduced in 1880
How stress, age, pollution, and other unknown factors are potential contributors
Why 50% of the time, the cause of premature birth is unknown
How to think about this problem holistically

Links & Resources:

ABOUT OUR GUESTSarah is a freelance journalist who has written for various publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, Food & Wine, BuzzFeed, Parade, and Saveur. Her work has been included in the Best American Food Writing yearly anthologies three times. Her new book is called, EARLY: A History of Premature Birth and What is Tells us About Being Human.

Nutritional Tip of the Week:

What is your dosha

Got Questions?

Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
Or write to us: [email protected]

Like the Show?

Leave us a Review on iTunes

Next Episode

407: Adversity into Advantage with Laura Huang

Adversity into AdvantageLaura Huang

----------------------------As I get older, I appreciate the struggles of my past almost as much as the successes, and here’s my question for you: What if your greatest weakness could be flipped and leveraged as your greatest strength? What if your biggest problems could be reframed as your best assets? The world of leaders and heros is filled with people who leveraged their rock-bottom experiences to create abundance and service in the present. Currently, we’re living in very difficult times. The health and economy of the world is suffering from COVID-19, and uncertainty is the norm. While no one knows exactly how this will change the world, it’s very clear that things will change. And if we’re fortunate and diligent, perhaps these adverse times can eventually become an advantage too. Listen & Learn:

How to create your own edge in life, often built off the adversity of your past
Why EDGE (enrich, delight, guide, effort) can give you a framework for moving forward
Why hard work is the last step, not the first - you need to aim first

Links & Resources:

Laura’s website

ABOUT OUR GEST

Laura Huang is an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. She was previously assistant professor of management at Wharton. Her research has been featured in The Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes and Nature. Her new book is, The Edge - Turning Adversity into Advantage.

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