I have a writing task hanging over my head that I really must do today. Do I want to do it? Not at all! Although I normally enjoy writing, this pending chore has lost much of its attraction for me. Many factors have come to bear on this thing I need to write, and now the project is simply no fun. In short, I feel trapped, chained, jailed.
But I read an article this morning that lightened my outlook; it was a key out of this dreary prison. The article "Motivating Goal-Directed Behavior Through Introspective Self-Talk: The Role of the Interrogative Form of Simple Future Tense" (Psychological Science) describes some rather odd research. The authors looked at whether there was a difference in motivation when people used the phrase "Will I" versus the words "I will." Their research seems to indicate that there is a difference, with "Will I" being more motivating.
Although going beyond the methods of the studies described in the article, I decided to apply the two
phrases to my burdensome task. I saw a whole palette of difference in the way I perceived this writing task when I said to myself "I will write A" as opposed to when I said "Will I write A?"—and I think I know why.
The "Will I" is similar to one of the self-awareness exercises I teach people. I ask them to see their lives as a story. When they wake up in the morning, say, "I wonder what [his or her name] will do today" and then watch to see how that day's chapter unfolds. Try it; for many people, it is freeing.
I am guessing that part of the reason these techniques can be helpful in making life seem lighter is because they harness curiosity. (For those of you who are not yet aware of the many benefits of curiosity, read my post here and here and here.) How does curiosity lighten life? In his book Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life, Todd Kashdan describes what Steven Hayes calls "Two Systems;" the curiosity system and the anxiety system.
In many situations, the systems can be inversely proportional. If curiosity is high, anxiety lessens. And, of course, vice versa. Seeing life as a story and using "Will I" both turn up curiosity which can dial down anxiety. The golden sunshine of curiosity brings freedom. (I hesitate to admit that it took many months before it occurred to me why the cover of Todd's book on curiosity is yellow? Do you know why?)
Will I write that "thing" today? It will be fun to watch and see. My attitude has certainly shifted from the gritted-teeth "I WILL write it today." I have moved to a stance that is more mindful.
In his book ACT Made Simple: An Easy-to-Read Primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Steven Hayes says, "Mindfulness means paying attention with flexibility, openness, and curiosity." That definition conveys a sense of expansiveness. To me, so does "Will I." Yes, my day opened up.
If you use "Will I," please let me know how it works for you.
Note: Here is the abstract of the "Will I" research:
Although essential for psychology, introspective self-talk has rarely been studied with respect to its effects on behavior. Nevertheless, the interrogative compared with the declarative form of introspective talk may elicit more intrinsically motivated reasons for action, resulting in goal-directed behavior. In Experiment 1, participants were more likely to solve anagrams if they prepared for the task by asking themselves whether they would work on anagrams as opposed to declaring that they would. In the next three experiments, merely writing Will I as opposed to I will as part of an ostensibly unrelated handwriting task produced better anagram-solving performance and stronger intentions to exercise, which suggests that priming the interrogative structure of self-talk is enough to motivate goal-directed behavior. This effect was found to be mediated by the intrinsic motivation for action and moderated by the salience of the word order of the primes.
Click to read the whole article.
Stephanie - Great post! I love Todd's work and it's always helpful to get a quick refresher and see it from a different angle. I am going to start asking these questions in the morning to "dial up" my curiosity. Thanks!
Posted by: Doug Hensch | April 07, 2010 at 05:24 AM