Motivation

Evidence-based motivation practices.

15 concepts in this area — each broken into concrete practices with the real mechanism, an honest read on the evidence, and how to practice it with IX Coach.

Approach vs Avoidance Goals
How the direction of a goal shapes energy, resilience, and well-being
Drive: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose
The three intrinsic drivers, the mechanisms, and where the science is strong
Expectancy-Value Theory: Why You Try (or Don’t)
The two-factor model of motivation and how to intervene on each factor specifically
Fresh Start Framing: Engineering Your Own Clean Slate
Creating psychological clean slates deliberately — without waiting for Monday
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: What the Research Actually Shows
The distinction that changed how we think about rewards — and its nuances
Passion vs Interest: How to Actually Find Work You Love
Why "find your passion" backfires — and what to do instead
Psychological Reactance: Working With the Push-Back Reflex
Why pressure backfires, and the counterintuitive moves that actually motivate
Regulatory Focus Theory: Promotion vs Prevention Thinking
How your motivational orientation shapes what you pursue, how you decide, and what succeeds
Reward Prediction Error: Using Dopamine Science to Stay Motivated
The neuroscience of anticipation, surprise, and the motivation machine your brain runs on
Self-Determination Theory, Made Usable
The three needs that make motivation self-sustaining
Self-Expansion Model: How Relationships Grow (and Stagnate) Us
Evidence-based practices for sustaining closeness and personal growth through the self-expansion mechanism
The Goal Gradient Effect: Why Getting Closer Makes You Faster
How proximity to a goal drives effort — and how to engineer that effect
The Overjustification Effect: When Rewards Kill Motivation
When rewards backfire, why they do, and the conditions that prevent it
The Progress Principle: Why Small Wins Fuel Motivation
Protecting forward movement, reducing setbacks, and the inner work life that drives performance
The Zeigarnik Effect: Using Task Tension to Stay Motivated
How incomplete tasks create cognitive pull -- and how to use that pull deliberately

Practice this with IX Coach

7 days free, then $40/month (~$1.30/day).