FIND YOUR DRIVE

You’ve set a goal, and you’re psyched to achieve it – then life gets in the way. Scientists have uncovered new techniques to keep the momentum going.

TEXT MIREL ZAMAN

Motivation isn’t just a mental game. “Research is showing that what you eat, how much you sleep, and other factors can directly impact your drive,” says Daniel Fulford, an assistant professor and a clinical psychologist at Boston University. These physical influences affect what’s known as perception of effort, or how much work you think an action will take, which in turn can determine whether you keep pushing forward, Daniel says. Here’s how the process works: Your brain assesses the difficulty of a task or a goal based largely on your physiological state. “It uses signals, including how hungry or how tired you are, to determine if a physical activity is worth the effort required,” Daniel says. For instance, if you’re exhausted, your brain might evaluate going to the gym now as…

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Shape Singapore (Digital) - 1 Issue, June - July 2019

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