Brendon Burchard’s video
Brendon Burchard’s video suggests some practices that may be adopted by an individual who wants to become more passionate in daily activities. Proposed behavior change include:
increasing rest to rejuvenate lost energy
setting reminders and celebrating wins
using visualizations
Increasing Rest to Rejuvenate Lost Energy
Burchard presents this suggestion as a generalization of research, while not specifically or explicitly mentioning any studies conducted ( Burchard, 2019 ). Furthermore, his statement that the findings on sleep research ‘are unanimous’ does not specify which particular set of studies he is referring to.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Setting Reminders and Celebrating Wins
The suggestions on celebrating wins to increase passion seem to lack a researched and proven scientific base and support, as does setting reminders ( Burchard, 2019 ). Burchard states that lacking reminders go toward diminishing passion levels though no research is mentioned to back this statement.
Using Visualizations
Similarly, this method is suggested informed by previous personal experience and does not refer to any particular scientific study ( Burchard, 2019 ). The speaker also projects past experiences onto the listener and uses these assumptions to inform the suggestion.
Emily Balcetis’s Ted Talk
Emily Balcetis’s Ted Talk provides insight on why some people might find it harder to exercise than others. She suggests that perception affects motivation, in that, goals (or being highly motivated) may affect the subjective and objective experience in exercises ( Balcetis, 2019 ).
Scientific claims include:
Perception affects seeming difficulty of accomplishing a task.
Motivation reduces the perceived difficulty of a task.
Focusing on the goal makes the challenge easier.
Motivation Reduces the Perceived Difficulty of a Task
Balcetis’s research team backs this claim through findings that ‘our mind’s eye’, or perception, affects our motivation for activities like exercise, even more than the fitness of the individual ( Balcetis, 2019 ). In this research, the circumference of the hip and the waist were recorded, after which the participants were told to walk to a finish line with weights. They were, however, told to estimate the distance that would be covered. Participants with a higher hip to waist ratio, a measure of lesser physical fitness, estimated the distance as further. However, this was only true amongst participants who were not motivated to exercise, and these findings did not stand for unfit individuals who were motivated to exercise. The motivated group estimated the distance to be closer in spite of their physical fitness levels. This finding proves that exercise may seem easier or harder due to motivation levels in spite of physical fitness.
Focusing On Goals
The claim on focusing on goals or ‘fixing your eyes on the prize’ lends credence to the research performed by Balcetis’ team before making the inference ( Balcetis, 2019 ). In the research, some participants were urged to focus on the finish line while the control group was urged to also consider other objects in the environment ( Balcetis, 2019 ). This research found that focusing on the goal reduces perception of distance by up to 30%.
Perception Affects the Quality of a Task
The above findings of Balcetis’s research were also used to conclude that focusing on the goal increases the quality of exercise. The participants in this phase had extra weight and motion patterns incorporated into their exercise. Focusing on the prize caused the participants to feel and experience less exertion (subjective) while their speed was also enhanced by up to 23% (objective), thus providing scientific support for the suggestion that high motivation may increase the ease of exercising even with increase in difficulty ( Balcetis, 2019 ).
References
Balcetis, E. (2019). Why some people find exercise harder than others [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/emily_Balcetiss_why_some_people_find_exercise_harder_than_others?language=en#t-17753
Burchard, B. (2019). How to Re-Discover Your Passion [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ2CHgzwDt0
