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About two decades ago,
when I was a PhD student at UC Berkeley,

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I found myself in a seminar
taught by a psychology professor

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who was renowned for his research
on self-worth theory,

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on motivation, teaching and learning.

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I'd no business being there;

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it had nothing to do
with my research interests,

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but I found it had everything to do
with my academic life.

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What I learned in that seminar

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and in the myriad of discussions
over the last two decades with Marty

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has been a real gift to me.

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It changed my understanding
of the human condition.

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It made me think back 
to those 20 years before that in school

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where I'd mastered the craft
and art of procrastination:

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the mind games,

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the rationalizations, the justifications -

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anybody know about these?

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Oh, some experts in the room.

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And so that gift is something
that I'd like to share with you today,

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at least some of that.

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This quote captures a certain perspective,
a way of thinking about procrastination,

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lots of ways to approach it.

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We can think of it
as a bad habit, for instance,

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but I want to ask you to consider
more deeply, to introspect, look inside,

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and look for the deep
motivational roots of procrastination

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so that we can overcome that
and flourish and truly thrive

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in our lives and in our work
as teachers and as learners.

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So my hope for you is
that you'll take away from this talk

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a very different understanding
of what procrastination is.

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And this is important;

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it's not just how we think about it

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in terms of conceptual
frameworks and theories,

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which I'm going to teach you,

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but also to understand it
in a different ethical or moral sense.

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I want you to think
that procrastination isn't shameful.

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It's not a sign of weakness.

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It's not a flaw.

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It's actually pretty predictable.

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It's something we can really expect

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if we understand
the dynamics of motivation

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and the circumstances
under which it arises.

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It's not surprising that we see
procrastination a lot at Princeton

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because you can't spell procrastination
without P-R-I-N-C-T-O-N.

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Anybody notice that before?

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So what is about a circumstance,

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a place like Princeton
or colleges in similar circumstances,

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that leads to procrastination?

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Well, one is that we're highly selective.

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And schools, all schools, evaluate us.

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So it's an evaluative environment
where it's competitive.

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We're often competing with one another.

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Often, there's limited rewards
and recognition.

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More people want A's
than can reasonably expect to get them.

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In those circumstances,

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we can fully expect that people
will seek to protect themselves,

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the meaning of not getting that reward,

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the meaning of not getting
that recognition

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for their self-concept
and their self-worth.

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It's not just the grade
that's on the line.

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It's more than that, and I think
as we introspect, we realize that.

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So today I want to explain that,

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and, again, I want that
so you have an idea,

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but I want you to apply it
to your own life

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as I've applied it to my own.

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Whether you're a teacher
or a student or a parent -

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all of this can be helpful

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in understanding the dynamics
that happen in schools and around schools.

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So I want to tell a little story,

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and if you procrastinate,
this will be a familiar scenario for you.

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So here's the setting.

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It's 11:00, you're in your dorm room,
and you have a paper due in a day or so.

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And so, it's been
a kind of long, busy day,

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maybe not too productive.

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So you sit down at your desk,
you open up your laptop

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to get started to tackle this paper,

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and then you think,

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"I'm going to check my email,
just for a minute,

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get that out of the way."

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Anybody ever done that?

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So 45 minutes later,
you've checked a lot of email.

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You've done a really good job of that.

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But now you realize,
"You know what? I'm pretty tired.

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I'm kind of exhausted,
as a matter of fact.

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You know, tired, exhausted -
not conducive to writing a good paper.

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What do I need?

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I need to go to sleep.

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Yeah, that's what I'll do.

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I'll go to sleep, get rested,
wake up tomorrow refreshed,

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tackle that paper, ready to go."

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So what do I do? I set my alarm.

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I feel kind of bad, so I overcompensate:
I set it especially early, right?

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to make up -

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(Laughter)

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You're thinking right now,

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"How did he know? Does he
have a camera in my dorm room?"

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(Laughter)

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This story's about me. That's how I know.

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And so I wake up extra early -

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or I shouldn't say I wake up extra early -
the alarm goes off extra early,

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I hit the snooze,
and while I'm laying there,

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I think, "You know, the whole point
was to be refreshed, and I'm not.

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I'm tired."

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Not only do I hit the snooze again,

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I turn off the alarm
because I need some sleep.

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Because if I'm going
to be productive, I need my rest.

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And so time passes.

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I wake up an hour before my first class,

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and I think, "You know what?

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That's not quite enough time
to get started on this paper.

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What can you get done in an hour?"

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So what I start to do, I think to myself,

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"You know, I have that thing to do;
it's really important.

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I need to do it now.

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And I really just need something
to cross off on my to-do list

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so I can feel that satisfaction."

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Sound familiar?

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So I knock that off my list
just in time to get to class.

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I have a full day, maybe
a little longer lunch than I should have.

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That conversation
in the hallway goes a bit longer,

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and I find myself back
in the same spot, at the same time:

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it's 11:00, and I haven't done
anything toward my paper.

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So now, not only have I not made progress,

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I'm behind, and I feel
pretty bad about myself.

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But nonetheless, I know what I have to do:

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make that sprint
into the wee hours of the night

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to finish this paper.

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And at some point, I just say to myself,

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"You know what? I just
have got to get this done

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because if I don't, that's bad.

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The humiliation of not completing it

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is worse than not writing the best paper
my professor has ever read."

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So what leads to these dynamics?

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We could look at the surface level,

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but I want to look more deeply,
what's going on underneath.

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And self-worth theory
of achievement motivation

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gives us a tool for doing that.

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So self-worth theory asserts,
or posits, first and foremost

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that the paramount psychological need
that all of us have

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is to be seen by ourselves and others
as capable and competent and able.

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So in a school environment, that means
we need to be thought of as smart:

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as good at math if that's our identity,

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as the excellent writer,

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bound for science.

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If we're a valedictorian,
we come to expect that.

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So self-worth theory says

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we need to be seen
as capable and able and competent.

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That's what we need to do.

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And because it's the primary
paramount need,

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we will actually sacrifice
or trade off other needs

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to realize or achieve or meet that need.

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And that's where procrastination comes in.

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So here's a way of thinking about it

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that kind of captures
some of the dynamics,

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a simple model.

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Now, first I want to say
that this is a model of people's beliefs

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about performance and ability,
self-worth, achievements.

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I'm not saying that this
is how we should be;

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I'm saying that this is what
we've discovered through research.

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Basically, we have
this kind of simple model in our head

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that my performance determines
my ability for the most part.

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Effort has a role in it,

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but ability, my innate capability
and skill and knowledge -

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excuse me, not knowledge -

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my innate skill at doing something,
largely unchanging,

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that's what determines
my achievement level, my success.

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And those achievements,
those successes or not,

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determine my sense of self-worth,
how I think about myself.

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So in a sense, then, these things
become equated with one another.

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So people who are
particularly fearful of failure,

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people who procrastinate a lot -

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I put myself in that category,
at least in the past -

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have a kind of simplistic
equation in their mind.

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Their performance is equal,
or equivalent, to their ability,

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which is equal, or equivalent,
to their worth,

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their self-worth as a person,
as a human being.

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So we go from a grade on a test
to ourselves in the world

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and to the people we love and care about,
our teachers, our friends.

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So with that understanding,

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we can see how procrastination
isn't just a matter of a habit,

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"I don't like this activity
or this assignment."

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"I never liked physics
although I'm a physics major."

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That's probably not the case.

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Often, people procrastinate
about things they love.

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They're fascinated by physics,

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but when it's 11:00,
and the piece is due at midnight -

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you're not loving that.

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You're just trying to get it done.

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So it's important to understand

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a couple of things about procrastination
in this simple model.

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One of them is that we can't simply forego
the opportunity to achieve.

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We can't just pick easy tasks and say,

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"Well, I've achieved.
That's great. I feel good."

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So what this model shows
is a key insight from self-worth theory.

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We used to think, in psychology,

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that if you really wanted
to achieve, say, for success,

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then you would not automatically
really want to avoid failure.

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But in fact, that's not the case.

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So not one dimension, one spectrum;
there are actually two.

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You can approach a task,
really want to do a task,

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and at the same time
really not want to do a task.

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You can want to succeed on it;

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you can also really fear
failing on such a task.

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So these are actually
two different dimensions.

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And many people at Princeton,
and at Berkeley,

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where I used to work and where a lot
of this research was done,

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actually are high on both dimensions.

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We really, really want to achieve.

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It's very important to us; we're driven.

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Maybe you've heard that word
used to describe you.

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But we're also fearful of failure
and what it means.

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So we have two sources of motivation.

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So, in fact, procrastination,
in many cases, and the cause of that

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is we're overmotivated.

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We're overly striving
both away and towards something.

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And that's what we've learned,

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that procrastinators

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are actually not less motivated
than the average person,

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although that's what they say

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or "I'm lazy" or
"I don't have time management."

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Those are really not typically the causes.

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What it is is a feeling of stuckness,

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two countervailing forces:

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we are driven towards success
on the one hand,

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but we are strongly
and powerfully motivated

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to avoid failure on the other.

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And we feel this stuckness,
these countervailing forces.

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And many people describe procrastination
as being stuck or against a wall,

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an obstacle they can't get over.

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Does that sound right to you?

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The phenomenon of it:
what does it feel like?

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We are often agitated.

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We can't sleep, but we can't work.

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Right?

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So we have these countervailing forces,
and we're unable to move forward.

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Until some moment
where we have this insight,

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and we say, "If I don't start now,
I won't get this done."

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And the fear of not getting it done -

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I see the nod -

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exceeds the fear
of doing less than perfectly

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or to an exceptional standard

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or to as good as I did it last time.

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Because those of us

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who are perfectionists and procrastinate,

243
00:12:16,281 --> 00:12:19,044
we've often excelled
at high levels in the past,

244
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and we can begin
to internalize those standards

245
00:12:21,264 --> 00:12:23,307
and feel that we must meet them each time.

246
00:12:23,307 --> 00:12:24,543
It's important, then,

247
00:12:24,543 --> 00:12:27,489
that we come to think about
procrastination in different terms.

248
00:12:27,489 --> 00:12:28,503
So self-worth theory

249
00:12:28,503 --> 00:12:31,116
looks at procrastination
with just a different lens.

250
00:12:31,116 --> 00:12:34,215
So a common way that we hear
procrastination discussed

251
00:12:34,215 --> 00:12:36,432
is as self-sabotage.

252
00:12:36,432 --> 00:12:39,095
We're handicapping ourselves;
we're sabotaging ourselves.

253
00:12:39,095 --> 00:12:41,165
You can see from
a self-worth point of view,

254
00:12:41,165 --> 00:12:43,682
it's not self-sabotage;
it's self-protection.

255
00:12:43,682 --> 00:12:45,419
We're trying to protect ourselves,

256
00:12:45,419 --> 00:12:50,689
our sense of our self as able
and capable and worthy human beings.

257
00:12:51,159 --> 00:12:54,664
And we're willing to sacrifice
our performance to do it.

258
00:12:54,664 --> 00:12:59,593
Because self-worth
is the paramount human need.

259
00:13:00,343 --> 00:13:01,714
Make sense?

260
00:13:02,454 --> 00:13:04,461
I want you to think
about procrastination,

261
00:13:05,333 --> 00:13:07,717
think about procrastination
actually as a strategy,

262
00:13:07,717 --> 00:13:11,908
a really nearly perfect strategy
for protecting ourselves.

263
00:13:12,228 --> 00:13:17,346
If we procrastinate on a task
that we value and care about

264
00:13:17,346 --> 00:13:21,864
and then we don't achieve very well
at a high level, if we fail,

265
00:13:21,864 --> 00:13:23,909
we have a built-in excuse.

266
00:13:24,279 --> 00:13:26,104
Right? "I couldn't have achieved that,

267
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I only had two hours
before the exam to get ready."

268
00:13:28,676 --> 00:13:30,162
And you hear people doing that.

269
00:13:30,162 --> 00:13:33,731
Think about when you're standing outside
of the lecture hall before an exam,

270
00:13:33,731 --> 00:13:35,357
what are people saying?

271
00:13:35,627 --> 00:13:37,487
"I only studied three hours."

272
00:13:37,487 --> 00:13:39,128
"I only studied two."

273
00:13:39,128 --> 00:13:41,977
"Yeah, my computer froze;
I didn't get a chance to do that."

274
00:13:41,977 --> 00:13:44,737
Everybody's explaining
how they're not ready.

275
00:13:44,737 --> 00:13:45,753
Why?

276
00:13:45,753 --> 00:13:48,677
Because if they don't achieve,
they have this built-in excuse,

277
00:13:48,677 --> 00:13:51,034
not only for themselves but for others.

278
00:13:52,744 --> 00:13:56,663
But it's a brilliant strategy
because if you succeed -

279
00:13:57,033 --> 00:14:00,105
you get that A on that physics test -

280
00:14:00,105 --> 00:14:01,953
then you can conclude,

281
00:14:02,203 --> 00:14:05,122
"I'm really smart.
Smarter than I thought I was.

282
00:14:05,122 --> 00:14:08,307
I thought I needed three hours;
I only needed two."

283
00:14:10,377 --> 00:14:13,979
So procrastination
as an avoidance strategy

284
00:14:13,979 --> 00:14:17,697
is nearly perfect in its outcome
in protecting our self-worth,

285
00:14:17,697 --> 00:14:21,136
even as we jeopardize our performance.

286
00:14:21,136 --> 00:14:24,266
We increase the chance
that we're going to need that excuse.

287
00:14:24,696 --> 00:14:25,681
Right?

288
00:14:25,681 --> 00:14:27,218
But we have it ready.

289
00:14:27,378 --> 00:14:31,059
So what our preparations
and these tests are testing

290
00:14:31,059 --> 00:14:34,514
is not so much our knowledge and our skill
but really our brinksmanship,

291
00:14:34,514 --> 00:14:37,582
our ability to pull off stuff
at the last minute.

292
00:14:37,582 --> 00:14:40,073
If that's not the definition
of a Princeton student,

293
00:14:40,073 --> 00:14:41,615
I don't know what is.

294
00:14:41,615 --> 00:14:42,888
(Laughter)

295
00:14:43,340 --> 00:14:46,125
How do we overcome procrastination?

296
00:14:46,125 --> 00:14:50,585
What a lot of us to do is we try
to talk ourselves into getting started

297
00:14:50,585 --> 00:14:54,776
by saying, "If I don't do this,
I'm not going to get into med school."

298
00:14:54,776 --> 00:14:59,671
"Oh, this is going to harm
my GPA, my transcript."

299
00:14:59,671 --> 00:15:01,881
We're actually increasing fear.

300
00:15:01,881 --> 00:15:05,141
And there's not a surprise
that it doesn't really work very well.

301
00:15:05,141 --> 00:15:08,368
There's actually some counterintuitive
other kinds of strategies

302
00:15:08,368 --> 00:15:09,936
that we're going to recommend.

303
00:15:09,936 --> 00:15:12,616
So there's three broad categories.

304
00:15:12,616 --> 00:15:14,153
There's many, many, many more,

305
00:15:14,153 --> 00:15:16,539
but these three come from,
or really follow from,

306
00:15:16,539 --> 00:15:18,374
self-worth theory in particular.

307
00:15:18,374 --> 00:15:20,124
So I want to underscore these.

308
00:15:20,124 --> 00:15:23,173
I want to do so first by talking about
developing awareness.

309
00:15:23,173 --> 00:15:26,996
We know, from the research
on procrastination and overcoming it,

310
00:15:26,996 --> 00:15:32,047
that gaining knowledge, being aware
of self-worth theory and these dynamics

311
00:15:32,047 --> 00:15:35,347
helps people overcome these things.

312
00:15:35,347 --> 00:15:38,310
To understand the roots of procrastination

313
00:15:38,310 --> 00:15:40,528
helps us weaken it.

314
00:15:40,528 --> 00:15:41,894
We know where it comes from:

315
00:15:41,894 --> 00:15:45,313
"Ah, I can be aware of and see
these dynamics happening in front of me."

316
00:15:45,313 --> 00:15:46,709
But another kind of awareness

317
00:15:46,709 --> 00:15:48,959
is to gain awareness
of what we're feeling.

318
00:15:48,959 --> 00:15:52,807
What do approach motives
feel like versus avoidance?

319
00:15:52,807 --> 00:15:55,914
We know when we're cleaning
the fridge in our dorm room

320
00:15:55,914 --> 00:15:57,811
the night before the final exam

321
00:15:57,811 --> 00:15:59,928
that that's procrastination.

322
00:15:59,928 --> 00:16:02,406
But there are other times
it's not so clear.

323
00:16:02,406 --> 00:16:05,479
Is checking your email procrastination?

324
00:16:05,479 --> 00:16:11,825
Is studying or doing the task
on the low-important item on your list -

325
00:16:11,825 --> 00:16:13,811
is that procrastination?

326
00:16:13,811 --> 00:16:15,245
A lot of times it is.

327
00:16:15,245 --> 00:16:16,338
So the more we know,

328
00:16:16,338 --> 00:16:21,620
the greater awareness we have
of our tendencies and our motivations,

329
00:16:21,620 --> 00:16:23,717
we're more likely to overcome them.

330
00:16:23,717 --> 00:16:26,753
So we want to cultivate a stance,
an observer's stance,

331
00:16:26,753 --> 00:16:28,417
and say, "What does this feel like?

332
00:16:28,477 --> 00:16:29,755
What am I experiencing?

333
00:16:29,835 --> 00:16:31,210
What am I thinking?"

334
00:16:31,210 --> 00:16:36,259
So that we can then actively choose
what we want to feel and think

335
00:16:36,259 --> 00:16:37,832
and what we're motivated by.

336
00:16:37,832 --> 00:16:40,760
And these next few strategies
tell us how to do that.

337
00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,461
So the first one is to learn
how to tip the balance

338
00:16:44,461 --> 00:16:50,253
away from avoidance motivations
toward approach motivations.

339
00:16:50,253 --> 00:16:52,923
So a lot of people think,
"I'm not motivated to do this."

340
00:16:52,923 --> 00:16:54,230
Often, that's not the case.

341
00:16:54,230 --> 00:16:59,598
It's simply that their fears dominate
or overwhelm their approach motives.

342
00:16:59,598 --> 00:17:02,231
There's a reason
you signed up for that class.

343
00:17:02,231 --> 00:17:04,292
There's ideas you want
to take away from,

344
00:17:04,292 --> 00:17:05,545
skills you want to learn.

345
00:17:05,545 --> 00:17:08,687
There are benefits beyond school
of doing well on this activity.

346
00:17:08,687 --> 00:17:10,363
But we're not thinking of that.

347
00:17:10,363 --> 00:17:13,258
They're not in our minds,
and so they don't affect us.

348
00:17:13,258 --> 00:17:17,747
Motivation can only operate on us
if we're thinking of it or feeling it.

349
00:17:17,747 --> 00:17:20,013
Because that's the nature of motivation.

350
00:17:20,013 --> 00:17:24,056
So how can we bring them
back into our consciousness?

351
00:17:24,876 --> 00:17:29,185
How can we shift or tip the balance
toward approach motives?

352
00:17:29,185 --> 00:17:30,420
We can stack them up;

353
00:17:30,420 --> 00:17:34,677
we can think of all the reasons
why I want to do this task.

354
00:17:34,677 --> 00:17:37,075
That's not to pretend
there aren't reasons not to;

355
00:17:37,075 --> 00:17:43,604
it's simply so those come to predominate
over these reasons I might avoid.

356
00:17:43,904 --> 00:17:45,704
So what are some ways of doing that?

357
00:17:45,704 --> 00:17:49,000
I'm going to show you an example of my own
so that you can see that.

358
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,201
That says, "TEDx."

359
00:17:51,201 --> 00:17:53,976
This is my motivational to-do list

360
00:17:53,976 --> 00:17:58,159
because, believe it or not, I was scared
when I was getting ready for this talk.

361
00:17:58,539 --> 00:17:59,741
I was anxious.

362
00:17:59,741 --> 00:18:00,980
Am I going to blow it?

363
00:18:00,980 --> 00:18:02,614
Is it going to look bad?

364
00:18:05,544 --> 00:18:07,163
So what did I do?

365
00:18:07,163 --> 00:18:10,096
I started writing down the things
I wanted to keep in my mind.

366
00:18:10,096 --> 00:18:13,568
First, I wanted to think about this
as an opportunity

367
00:18:14,808 --> 00:18:16,472
and as a way to experiment.

368
00:18:16,472 --> 00:18:19,511
So I wasn't thinking,
"Hey, this should be perfect.

369
00:18:19,511 --> 00:18:21,668
It's an experiment -
I'm going to try it out."

370
00:18:21,668 --> 00:18:23,524
It's a little different way of talking.

371
00:18:23,524 --> 00:18:26,539
It lowers the expectations
and it lowers the stakes.

372
00:18:26,539 --> 00:18:28,250
Another thought was,

373
00:18:28,500 --> 00:18:29,512
"You know what?

374
00:18:29,512 --> 00:18:31,272
Maybe I can see this as not about me

375
00:18:31,272 --> 00:18:33,661
but as a service
to the Princeton community.

376
00:18:33,661 --> 00:18:35,060
I'm helping people."

377
00:18:35,060 --> 00:18:38,276
For me, my motivational profile,
that motivates me,

378
00:18:38,276 --> 00:18:39,845
takes the pressure off me:

379
00:18:39,845 --> 00:18:41,594
I want to be helpful.

380
00:18:42,204 --> 00:18:44,562
A third idea that was
really important for me was,

381
00:18:44,562 --> 00:18:48,341
to tap into a deep, abiding,
enduring motivation was,

382
00:18:48,341 --> 00:18:50,644
How does this fit with my mission?

383
00:18:50,644 --> 00:18:54,354
So I see my purpose in life,
my mission in my work,

384
00:18:54,354 --> 00:18:56,412
is to reduce suffering,

385
00:18:56,962 --> 00:18:58,994
specifically of students

386
00:18:58,994 --> 00:19:04,328
so that they can be more engaged
in their academic work, in their lives,

387
00:19:04,328 --> 00:19:06,161
and to thrive and flourish.

388
00:19:06,161 --> 00:19:09,656
And, in fact, that's a reminder
that I have on my phone,

389
00:19:09,656 --> 00:19:11,143
and every day, I see it:

390
00:19:11,143 --> 00:19:12,836
"Reduce suffering."

391
00:19:15,756 --> 00:19:20,751
Another idea was to make it small
so it feels manageable, right?

392
00:19:20,751 --> 00:19:22,346
My thought about the whole thing:

393
00:19:22,346 --> 00:19:23,421
it felt too big.

394
00:19:23,421 --> 00:19:24,460
This may be familiar.

395
00:19:24,460 --> 00:19:26,088
We say, "Slice it up into pieces."

396
00:19:26,088 --> 00:19:29,124
But make it small
to make it feel manageable.

397
00:19:29,124 --> 00:19:30,470
And so I started to do that.

398
00:19:30,470 --> 00:19:33,997
One way I did that was
instead of writing out the whole script,

399
00:19:33,997 --> 00:19:36,507
maybe I can make a very simple outline,

400
00:19:36,507 --> 00:19:38,860
and that gives me a sense of the whole.

401
00:19:40,100 --> 00:19:43,052
So those are some techniques
that helped me overcome,

402
00:19:43,062 --> 00:19:46,232
not entirely - I'm still
pretty nervous right now -

403
00:19:46,232 --> 00:19:51,004
but to get moving, to get started,

404
00:19:51,004 --> 00:19:52,637
to make progress.

405
00:19:52,637 --> 00:19:55,720
And to enjoy it so much more.

406
00:19:56,770 --> 00:19:59,650
The last way we can tackle procrastination

407
00:19:59,650 --> 00:20:03,488
is by really challenging this equation
that we carry around in our head:

408
00:20:03,488 --> 00:20:04,874
it's flawed.

409
00:20:04,874 --> 00:20:07,756
Right? Our performance
is not equal to our ability.

410
00:20:07,756 --> 00:20:08,924
There are lots of times

411
00:20:08,924 --> 00:20:12,476
when our performance was less
than our capacity to perform.

412
00:20:12,476 --> 00:20:14,359
It's simply not representative.

413
00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:15,933
Sometimes it's another way round.

414
00:20:15,933 --> 00:20:18,179
Some of you had good
reputations in high school;

415
00:20:18,179 --> 00:20:20,092
you got an A when you didn't deserve it.

416
00:20:20,092 --> 00:20:23,938
So either way, that breaks
the A and the P association.

417
00:20:24,788 --> 00:20:29,823
But more importantly, your ability
is not equivalent to your worth.

418
00:20:30,323 --> 00:20:33,399
Think about the people you love
and who love you,

419
00:20:33,769 --> 00:20:35,341
people you value and care about.

420
00:20:35,341 --> 00:20:38,468
It's not because of their GPA
or their transcript.

421
00:20:38,858 --> 00:20:40,197
That is not the case.

422
00:20:40,197 --> 00:20:45,426
Our worth derives from our human qualities
of kindness, thoughtfulness

423
00:20:46,389 --> 00:20:48,087
and our vulnerabilities,

424
00:20:48,087 --> 00:20:50,126
which might be thought of as a weakness.

425
00:20:50,326 --> 00:20:52,488
So I want to leave you with one thought

426
00:20:53,396 --> 00:20:54,414
from Nelson Mandela.

427
00:20:54,414 --> 00:20:55,444
And he said,

428
00:20:55,444 --> 00:21:00,683
"May your choices reflect your hopes
and not your fears."

429
00:21:00,683 --> 00:21:06,247
This is absolutely approach-avoidance
motivation theory, right there.

430
00:21:06,247 --> 00:21:09,436
Can we be motivated
by those things we aspire to,

431
00:21:10,136 --> 00:21:12,642
not by pretending we don't have the fears

432
00:21:12,642 --> 00:21:14,803
but despite them?

433
00:21:15,913 --> 00:21:17,109
Thank you.

434
00:21:19,489 --> 00:21:21,344
(Applause)