You Need Planning Goggles
There is no problem so big that it cannot be solved with a little self-deception.
Anonymous
Large tasks need to be broken down into smaller ones. We have probably heard that so many times that it's cliché but from a motivational perspective, it holds very true. Why? Firstly, the obvious. Demotivation problems are smaller if you have to take on smaller sloths and gorillas. But also take a look at panel three. Do you see all that fruit? It comes from nowhere. The beauty of breaking up a large task is that it creates new fruit for Monkey Me and it does not necessarily make the big banana at the end any smaller. So taking another cliché and bastardising it; 3 can become 1 plus 1 plus 3.
Real World versus My World
Actual Me lives in My World not the Real World. My Many Me's filter the Real World from me.
In the Real World, ten bucks is ten bucks so if you give me the money then materially I am always better off. However in My World, an exchange rate is applied that depends entirely on the situation.
Give me ten bucks extra for a five minute job and that would motivate me. Offer me that same extra ten bucks for a task that takes a week then you might as well have taken ten dollars from me. Similarly if I offer to do you a favour and you give me a token amount of money but I knew you could afford more then that's twenty dollars you have taken from me. However if ten bucks was more than you could afford, then you have just given me a hundred dollars. That's My World.
My Many Me's are different to your Many Me's. Therefore the same Real World affects My World and Your World in different ways. Some cultures for example regard tipping as an insult and any extra payment has a negative effect.
We have a lot of control of Our Worlds, more than the Real World, especially if we understand how our Many Me's work. Splitting a task and seeing the sub tasks as tasks in their own right is a good example of how our Many Me's can be manipulated to our advantage. Structured procrastination is another.
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