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Philip Riggs

Philip Cartoons: Find your motivation to help progress towards your goal

Published 10 months ago • 2 min read

Find your motivation to help progress towards your goal

Here’s a free quiz to discover your motivation tendencies, what could be holding you back, and how to overcome your motivational blocks:

​https://gretchenrubin.com/quiz/the-four-tendencies-quiz/​

Why it matters

Have you ever wanted to accomplish something, yet couldn’t get yourself to actually work towards it?

You could be trying the wrong motivation strategies. Rubin’s quiz diagnosis your motivation tendencies and gives advice for working with your tendencies so that…

  • You can actively and intentionally trigger yourself to work instead of being held hostage by incorrect motivation.
  • You can understand other people’s motivations, identify roadblocks, and help them accomplish their goals.

The backstory

I’ve wanted to be a solopreneur for many years, but struggled to take the steps I needed.

I tried other people’s suggestions to motivate myself…

  • Set deadlines. I’d let the deadlines pass without a care in the world. Pre-selling to get things done has the opposite effect on me.
  • Get accountability. I tried hiring a coach to push me to make progress and ended up battling them the entire time. I’ve joined accountability groups and was gone within the week.

Why did these things work for others but not me?

The book The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) by Gretchen Rubin finally answered those questions…

And gave me solutions that are actually working.

I’m a Rebel…

According to Rubin’s quiz, I’m a Rebel driven by freedom, choice, and identity. I resist all expectations, whether from others or myself. They confine me.

Give me obligations and I’ll fight them. Give me deadlines and I’ll fight them.

I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. But the book gave me the following systems:

  • Focus on why I want to do the thing and how it will make me feel, improve, or allow me to be my true self.
  • Answer the question of how it fits my identity: I’m the type of person who…
  • Give choices of doing or not doing, but being clear in the consequences of not doing it.

It seems basic, but by framing things as identity and choice I find myself fighting less, running into less resistance, and actually accomplishing things I want to accomplish.

Going deeper

When I explained this to my friend Mike, he asked what I thought he was?

I told him he’s a Questioner. He has to meet inner expectations and isn’t swayed by outer expectations. Questioners ask WHY and must be convinced to do things in a way that makes sense to them and aligns with their values.

He completely agreed. In fact, he told me several situations where needing that why had played out.

There are two other tendencies presented by Rubin: Obligers driven by external expectations and Upholders driven by both internal and external expectations.

Taking action

Find your motivation tendency and enjoy the progress you can make towards taking action.

Take the free quiz here:

​https://gretchenrubin.com/quiz/the-four-tendencies-quiz/​

Philip

See you next week!

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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Philip Riggs

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I'm a data analyst and cartoonist who was comfortable with computers, but struggled with people and communication. My work now focuses on helping people develop communication skills for career development and personal living.

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