How to light your motivation on fire

9 min readJun 11, 2018

Do you wish you had more motivation for your goals? Do you find that you start strong but lose steam before you’ve achieved what you want?

The Heaven and Hell Technique will increase your motivation for goals and projects. It works by contrasting a future where you succeed with one where you fail. This creates a feeling of discrepancy that inspires motivation and commitment. You can use that feeling to help you get started or to give yourself a boost when motivation flags.

The technique works best for well-constructed goals, so part one gives a little guidance on what makes goals effective.

Already have an effective goal? The Heaven and Hell Technique is part two.

Part three is a brief recap and call to action.

1. What makes goals effective?

Effective Goals are Valued Goals

Valued goals are goals or projects that are important and meaningful to us. They feel this way, because they are based on values — the things that matter most to us in life. If you want to be motivated, figure out what matters to you and then work on that.

Values come in three flavors. They are things we want to:

Be
Do
Have

That’s it — just three words, but they amount to more or less everything we care about. And when we get clear about what we really want, we can link it to our goals and inject our life with interest, meaning, and a sense of importance.

So what are the things that you want to be, do, or have in life?

A common example is “be healthy.” This is a ‘being’ value, but it could just as easily be the ‘doing’ value “lead a healthy lifestyle”. It doesn’t matter how it’s characterized. It only matters that it’s important to you and that you can translate it into action.

But wait, isn’t “be healthy” a goal? It’s not, and I’ll tell you why. It’s far too vague. Goals are specific and action-oriented. Values are general directions that we’re aiming for. “Be healthy” is a value. The goal might be to “run every morning” or “eat more vegetables”.

Goals live inside the values.

Having goals with no clear value is like driving without a destination in mind. You’ll end up where you end up, and there’s a good chance it won’t be a place filled with satisfaction and meaning. It could be, but it’s not likely.

Values without goals are like cars without wheels. They aren’t going to take you anywhere.

So how do you know what our values are? Moving toward your values feels energizing and meaningful. Not moving toward them feels uninspiring and uncomfortable. If one of your values is to “be healthy”, then you’ll feel better when you’re moving toward it and worse when you aren’t.

The idea here is to feel as energized and good about your life as possible. Identifying your values and linking them to goals is the first step.

Further Reading:

I’m working on a more detailed treatment of values. A link will appear **here** in the near future.

Values is an important part of Motivational Interviewing and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Here’s a brief guide to understanding and exploring values that comes from these perspectives.

Effective goals are clear and measurable

Goals are more effective when they are stated simply and with clear measurable aims. Consider these two goals:

learn French
Spend 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week, studying French over the next 3 months.

Which one of these is more actionable and likely to succeed?

Obviously it’s the second one, but why is that? It’s because the goal lays out exactly what needs to be done and over what time-frame.

Vague goals lead to vague unfocused effort. Targeted goals lead to focused action. And for that reason, it’s important to:

State your goals in simple, measurable language with a clear time-frame.

Example:

Value: “be healthy”
Goal: “run for 20 minutes, Monday-Wednesday-Friday, for the next 6 weeks”.

Is the goal linked to a value ? Check.

Is the goal stated in simple, measurable language? Check.

Does it have a clear time-frame? Check.

But what’s wrong with a goal like “start running” or even “run 3x per week?” Ambiguity leaves room for bargaining, which can undercut motivation and make us less likely to succeed. Most of us have had the experience of setting a vague exercise goal and then putting it off “until tomorrow”. We can remove that possibility by setting clearer goals.

What about “for the next six weeks”, why is that important?

A clear time-frame makes the project less daunting

The idea might be to run regularly for life, but focusing on the next 6 weeks is easier than on the next 6 years.

A clear time-frame provides an opportunity to review progress

Is the goal working? Taking a moment to notice progress and to change things up when necessary is good goals and for motivation.

A clear time-frame provides an opportunity to celebrate

Not just noticing but celebrating your progress will give your dopaminergic reward system a boost. This is the system that makes life feel rewarding. It’s so powerful that it even causes people to become addicted to things. Celebrating your progress harnesses this system to provide motivation for your goals.

Further Reading

I’m also working on a more detailed treatment of goal-setting. A link to it should appear **here** in the near future.

Specific measurable goals are just the tip of the iceberg. For an in-depth account of goal-setting, click here to read about Locke’s goal-setting theory.

2. The Heaven and Hell Technique

Now that you have a valued goal that’s clearly stated, let’s supercharge it with the Heaven and Hell Technique.

The Heaven and Hell Technique boils down to three questions:

Heaven: What are the benefits of successfully pursuing your goal?

Hell: What are the negative consequences giving up?

(Notice that I did not say fail. The best goals are about sustained action that can only fail if you quit)

Commitment: Is the effort of pursuing the goal worth it to attain heaven and avoid hell?

Note: This exercise is best done in writing. There’s something magical about getting things out of your head and onto a sheet of paper (a computer screen is okay too).

What are the benefits of successfully pursuing your goal?

Take a moment and really picture all of the good things that could happen if you succeed.

Will there be external rewards like wealth or recognition? What about internal benefits like health, vitality, happiness, of satisfaction?

Will there be any social benefits like improved friendships or a happier spouse or partner? And seeing through any goal is likely to boost your confidence, motivation and self-esteem. So make sure you count that!

Taking the exercise from part two:

run for 20 minutes per day, Monday-Wednesday-Friday, for 6 weeks.

Succeeding at this goal would probably lead to improved health and vitality. It might improve sleep and lead to better focus and attention. And succeeding at any valued goal is likely to boost confidence and self-esteem.

In addition, these health, energy, and attention benefits could have secondary benefits at work. They might even improve social and romantic relationships. And feeling happier and more confident in all these areas could set up a positive spiral of growth and self-actualization.

That is the heaven that we’re trying to create.

And now for the hell.

What are all the bad things that could happen if you give up?

Same idea. Take a moment and really picture what could happen if you give up.

Could there be external consequences like loss of income or the esteem of others? What about internal costs like health problems, frustration, and demoralization?

Abandoning some goals might have negative social consequences. And abandoning most goals will negatively impact one’s confidence, motivation and/or self-esteem.

Back to the running example:

Giving up on running might lead to feeling tired and run down. It might diminish sleep quality causing a loss of focus and attention. And giving up on any important goal could take a toll on self-confidence and/or self-esteem.

In addition, having less energy and attention could have secondary consequences at work and at home. It might reduce work quality and productivity and put a strain on personal relationships. And feeling less energetic and confident will make most people feel less inclined to take on new projects, potentially slowing growth and self-actualization.

Would most people be able to pick themselves back up? Absolutely.

Would it send them into a never-ending spiral of depression and self-loathing?Probably not.

But by negatively impacting mood and confidence, giving up on an important goal can have some real negative consequences.

This is the hell that we want to avoid.

Now let’s look at commitment.

Is the effort of pursuing the goal worth it to attain heaven and avoid hell?

When you get to this question, the answer should be clear: The effort of pursuing the goal seems like a small price to pay.

If this is NOT the case, it’s time to re-evaluate the goal (or perhaps the value) and whether or not its really important to you.

Back to running.

Is the effort of pursuing the goal, 20 minutes of running 3x per week, worth it to attain heaven:

improved health and vitality
better sleep quality
improved work and relationships
higher self-esteem and self-confidence setting up a positive spiral of self-actualization!

and avoid hell:

decline in health and vitality
poorer sleep quality
poorer work and relationships
reduced self-esteem and self-confidence that is a drag on future projects and goals!

This is just an example, but reading over the two lists, I kind of feel like starting a running program now!

Again, if you get to this point with your goal and DON’T feel motivated, there’s likely something about this goal or the underlying value that isn’t working for you.

Committing and Taking Action

Okay, you’ve done the technique and feel a surge of motivation. Now what?

It’s time to commit and take action. Strike while the iron is hot!

What are your action steps?
When will you do them? Schedule it!
What, if anything, is standing in your way?
And importantly, state your commitment.

Write these things down and state your commitment:

“I will x, at time y, for period z.”

Do this out loud, ideally to another person but at least to yourself. If you can’t bring yourself to do this, just writing it down is also quite helpful.

3. Call to Action!

You’ve come this far, now it’s the time to try this out!

Start with a valued goal. Write down the value.
Make sure it’s clear and measurable. Write down your goal statement.
Write down the benefits of success and the costs of failure. Make sure you include the effects on your confidence, self-esteem and relationships.
Ask yourself if it’s worth it.
Write down your action steps (be specific) and verbally commit while you’re feeling pumped!

For simpler goals, you may be able to do all of this in 15 minutes or less. Is heaven worth 15 minutes?

Good luck!

Please share some of your goals in the comments below!