Jobs Theory identifies people’s (desired!) progress and builds and sells solutions. But the force of progress can be turned on ourselves.
Outcomes or Outputs.
When you think about making a change, don’t settle on the easiest metric: weight, books read, calls made, etc. These are outputs and not so helpful.
Instead, think about outcomes. What can’t you do now but will be able to do later?
Aspirations and Progress.
Wouldn’t it be great... is an aspirational statement. There’s no meat behind it. Purposeful change requires deliberateness.
When are the pushes and pulls greater than the habits and anxieties... is a progress statement.
Bob talks about losing weight but it applies everywhere. ’Saving more’ is an aspirational resolution. Progress requires facing the uglies in the pit of your stomach. Do we use retail therapy to deal with something else? Do we spend while bored? Does that make us boring? Do we spend to fit in? Anxiety indeed!
But that’s good!
Progress is purposeful, and that requires an honest assessment of the situation.
Strategies
Make small changes. Great things don’t happen at once. We lose weight slowly, we build muscle slowly, we develop relationships slowly, and we save money slowly. Track the small changes.
Design your life. Bob uses a ‘time wall’ to force himself to take action. That’s good – for Bob. But any design that forces towards the accepted tradeoffs helps. For example, instead of takeout, every Thursday night we make breakfast for dinner.
Fire the old. Find the things which create friction for the change and get rid of them. Delete apps. Change patterns of behavior.
Track progress metrics. Did you skip Starbucks to save money? That’s a win. Did you check the new mortgage rates in case it’s time to refinance your home? That’s a win.
Assignment: reexamine your resolutions.
Are you focused on outcomes or outputs?
What are your forces of progress, especially the habits and anxieties?
What strategies can you implement?
Another aspirational statement is We should get together sometime... A friend (Hi Tim!) systematized this so that whenever someone says it to him, he takes out his phone and says ‘Okay, let’s put something on the calendar.’
If you think through this email, hit reply and let me know. I love talking about behavior change, design, and how we think about how we think (and act!).