Small Challenges Keep Motivation AliveHis first routines would only last one or two minutes.By high school, his material had expanded to include a five-minute act and, a few years later, a ten-minute show.At nineteen, he was performing weekly for twenty minutes at a time.He had to read three poems during the show just to make the routine long enough, but his skills continued to progress.He spent another decade experimenting, adjusting, and practicing.He took a job as a television writer and, gradually, he was able to land his own appearances on talk shows.By the mid-1970s, he had worked his way into being a regular guest on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live.Finally, after nearly fifteen years of work, the young man rose to fame.He toured sixty cities in sixty-three days.Then seventy-two cities in eighty days.Then eighty-five cities in ninety days.He had 18,695 people attend one show in Ohio.Another 45,000 tickets were sold for his three-day show in New York.He catapulted to the top of his genre and became one of the most successful comedians of his time.His name is Steve Martin.Martin's story offers a fascinating perspective on what it takes to stick with habits for the long run.Comedy is not for the timid.It is hard to imagine a situation that would strike fear into the hearts of more people than performing alone on stage and failing to get a single laugh.And yet Steve Martin faced this fear every week for eighteen years.In his words, "10 years spent learning, 4 years spent refining, and 4 years as a wild success."Why is it that some people, like Martin, stick with their habits—whether practicing jokes or drawing cartoons or playing guitar—while most of us struggle to stay motivated?How do we design habits that pull us in rather than ones that fade away?Scientists have been studying this question for many years.While there is still much to learn, one of the most consistent findings is that the way to maintain motivation and achieve peak levels of desire is to work on tasks of " just manageable difficulty."
It is hard to imagine a situation that would strike fear into the hearts of more people than performing alone on stage and failing to get a single laugh.
很难想象还有什么情况比一个人在舞台上表演却没有得到笑声更让人们心生恐惧。
imagine
想象
Ex: It is hard to imagine a situation that would strike fear into the hearts of more people than performing alone on stage and failing to get a single...
Ex: It is hard to imagine a situation that would strike fear into the hearts of more people than performing alone on stage and failing to get a single...
Why is it that some people, like Martin, stick with their habits—whether practicing jokes or drawing cartoons or playing guitar—while most of us struggle to stay motivated?
Ex: Why is it that some people, like Martin, stick with their habits—whether practicing jokes or drawing cartoons or playing guitar—while most of us st...
Ex: Why is it that some people, like Martin, stick with their habits—whether practicing jokes or drawing cartoons or playing guitar—while most of us st...
While there is still much to learn, one of the most consistent findings is that the way to maintain motivation and achieve peak levels of desire is to work on tasks of " just manageable difficulty."