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"Expectancy" is your belief in the outcome of the task you're avoiding. Expectancy can be either too high (overconfidence) or too low.

It looks like you have low expectancy for this task. Maybe you’re discouraged because it didn’t go well in the past. Low expectancy is especially pernicious in areas where rejections are inevitable in the beginning. Think sales jobs, or job hunting. Once you’ve had a few rejections, it’s easy to start believing that the goal isn’t achievable. Every rejection, every unanswered email after that only reinforces this belief.

And because you expect the task to fail, you postpone sending out more applications, or calling more prospects.

This goes hand in hand with learned helplessness, which occurs when prior experiences convince you that you have no power to change a situation. To give an example, that’s how elephants are trained. When a elephant is a baby, the trainer ties it to a pole with a rope. The baby elephant strains to break loose, but it’s not strong enough to break the rope.

And it eventually gives up.

As it grows up, into its full strength as an adult elephant, it's still tied up with the same rope. If the elephant tries to break free at this point, the rope, or several such ropes, would not suffice to contain it. But the elephant doesn’t try to break free. In its head, it believes that the rope cannot be broken. More reading on learned helplessness.

Humans behave very much like the elephant. It’s frighteningly easy to sink into this state of mind, especially after a few disappointments.

In order to increase your motivation to do this task, we’re going to have to increase your expectancy, that is, your belief that you can successfully complete the task.

How do I fix this?

Each card below has a strategy. You can’t apply them all, but choose a few that you can try immediately. And get back to work and see if it works.

Use Success Spirals × Success begets more success. With every successful outcome, your belief in yourself is boosted. Most of the time, that belief is enough to carry you past the finish line. In general, incorporating success spirals into your life builds up your confidence in your ability to get things done. The more you complete things successfully, the more likely you are to continue doing so. In the long term, you can build up success spirals into your life by using the power of streaks. Commit to something, even if it’s small, and do it every day. Do this now Takes 20 mins Start a success spiral for the task you’re working on. Take the task and break it into a list of the tiniest pieces of discrete units that you can. For example, if you’re struggling with writing a report, it could be: Click on word processor icon.

Click on File >> New.

Write title of the report.

Write down 5 main points to make in the report.

Write 2 sub points for each point.

Write down 1 major point to make in the introduction. And so on. It might take 10-20 minutes to just finish this list. And you might feel a little silly doing it. It doesn’t matter. You’d have spent that time on Youtube anyway. Just make the list. Then start working on each of them. They’re so tiny, you’ll be done in seconds, or at maximum, minutes. And when you do each, check it off with a huge marker. You’re also allowed to execute a war dance if you like. Each time you finish a tiny task, and startle your long-suffering and hapless neighbours with your yodel of victory, that’s a win. And if you can do the first task, you can do the second. So move to the next one. And see how quickly you get to the final step. Start Your List Right Now! If you're not the pen and paper type, start your list right here!

Get a boost from vicarious victories × It’s a simple idea – see other people succeed, and you realize that it’s not impossible. It's even more motivating if you hear of their struggles before they attain their success -- you understand that they probably had a rocky road to achieve their goals, and success did not just happen to them. The long term way to incorporate this into your life is to hang out with people you admire, those you can learn from. They say you’re the average of the five people you spend time with most. Spend time with people who are productive, and help others get things done as well. Do this now Takes 10-15 mins For an instant jolt of vicarious victory, pick a video from the suggestions here and watch it. Caveat: Don’t get drawn into the rabbit hole of Youtube videos! It’s better to watch one on loop till you’re feeling pumped. Please pick only one.

Use Wish Fulfilment × There are two steps to this tactic, and the second is the most important, so don’t skip it! Wish fulfilment is visualizing the results of your work. Vividly imagining the completion of the task increases expectancy, by increasing your belief in its successful outcome. Do this now Takes 5-10 mins Sit somewhere quiet. Put on headphones and listen to calming ambient music for 1 minute. Think of the task you want to finish. Imagine how it will feel when you've finally completed it. Imagine yourself hitting save for the last time, hitting send on the email, walking back from the gym. Imagine the feeling of warm success in the pit of your stomach. Imagine yourself at the end of the day, going to do something fun. Decide what you’ll do. Now contrast that with where you are right now. Sitting in front of a blank page, dithering and spending “just 5 more minutes” on Youtube. Feeling stressed out instead of feeling like you accomplished something. Contrast this to the first visualization. The gap between the future and present should close, as you contrast these two situations, and you should find yourself motivated to work on the task, to sooner be able to get to that point where you imagined it done.