When everything feels overwhelming, focus on the ‘MVM’
About 11 years ago, I got kicked out of graduate school, lost my job, ended a long-term relationship, and found myself in a new town where I didn’t know anyone. I was completely lost. Luckily, I began dating a woman and things got serious enough that we started talking about moving in together. She said she’d let me live in her apartment and contribute whatever rent money I could afford, under one condition: I had to be working to get my life back on track.
The problem was that I had no idea how I was going to tackle this enormous project. My problems seemed so big, so overwhelming. Where would I even begin?
That’s when I stumbled on an unlikely source of motivation. I decided to start running. I’m not sure what prompted me to do this — I had always dreaded running. As a kid, whenever we had to run the mile in gym class, I would stop to rest after every few hundred feet, convinced that my legs couldn’t continue any further. But for some reason, I went online and signed up for Couch to 5K, a program designed to help people who’ve never seriously run before prepare for a 5K race. The next day, I laced up my shoes and went out there.
At the beginning of the program, all I had to do was run for 60 seconds, then walk for 90 seconds, and repeat that for 20 minutes. It was dead simple — I barely even felt challenged. But I did feel accomplished. I mean, I did it. I did this thing. I moved a tiny bit forward despite feeling stuck.
https://forge.medium.com/all-you-need-are-a-few-small-wins-every-day-f1a6d2bf9fb3
That’s when I figured out the key to doing anything that feels daunting in your life: You must find the smallest thing that moves you toward a more difficult goal, while being both easy and pleasurable. The thing that will give you a rush of accomplishment when you complete it, and make you want to keep going the next day. I call this the MVM, the Minimum Viable Motivator.
What kept me from running all these years was that I never wanted to commit to finishing a race and then let myself down. When you consistently make promises to yourself that you don’t keep, you stop becoming motivated by goals because your brain has seen you bail on them time and time again. But focusing on the MVM gives you momentum because you can’t lose. When you complete your MVM, you feel a thrill that’s similar to the one you’d get if you had achieved your end goal. It’s not that your brain doesn’t know the difference between running for one minute and running a marathon, but the rush of meeting a commitment is not all that different in either case.
Here’s how to focus the MVM for any goal:
- Take a big, daunting goal and break it up into smaller parts. Choose distinct and simple actions that, when put together, will build a desired habit. Make sure each action seems either easy or pleasurable enough to you that you won’t use, “It’s too hard” as an excuse not to do it. Your MVM might seem stupidly simple to you — for instance, if you are trying to build a reading habit, you might set a goal to read for five minutes straight.
- Once you complete your MVM, you’re done, even if you think you could do a bit more. Save that enthusiasm; it will come in handy to keep you motivated tomorrow.
- Celebrate! This is an important step. After achieving each MVM, act as if you have achieved the entire goal. You’re a runner! You’re a reader! After all, you’re not wrong; you took the necessary step today. Don’t cheat yourself by dwelling on the fact that there’s still more to do.
- After a while, you can adjust the difficulty of the tasks, and build habits. If your MVMs seem to be getting too taxing, make them a bit easier for a while. The point is to outsmart yourself.
Eventually, I used MVMs to not only finish a 5K, but to turn my entire life around. I got back into grad school and earned my master’s degree. I found a career with opportunities for advancement. I wrote two books. I married the woman who helped me do all of it.
All of this happened because I found the minimum viable motivating action. No one climbs a mountain all at once. Getting to the summit is a matter of climbing a series of small rocky surfaces. The same is true of any big thing you’re trying to do. Whatever your thing is, whatever mountain you’re trying to climb, the MVM is your way to get there.