Nate’s Notes 102: Dan Pink | Action Creates Motivation

First: Just get started. So often we want to wait for the perfect time or conditions to do something. But in reality, the best way to find motivation to do things is to just get started. Acting creates motivation. If you don’t feel like writing, start writing, and then you will feel like writing. Our intuition reverses the sequence. We think we have to feel a certain way to act, when in fact we can act our way into feelings.

Second: Start with generosity. In almost any interaction you have, lead with generosity. It makes us feel better, and there are also massive returns to us. If we make our default setting to be generous, we may have to switch off the default for some people, but most people are worthy of our generosity.

In summary, “Just get started” and “Lead with generosity.”

Simple ideas. Please take them seriously.

Dan Pink Bio:

Dan Pink is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world.

Dan also hosted and produced “Crowd Control,” a TV series about human behavior on the National Geographic Channel that aired in more than 100 countries. He hosts a popular MasterClass on sales and persuasion, and he appears frequently on NPR, PBS, ABC, CNN, and other TV and radio networks in the US and abroad.

He has been a contributing editor at Fast Company and Wired as well as a business columnist for The Sunday Telegraph. His articles and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, Slate, and other publications.

Before venturing out on his own 20 years ago, Dan worked in several positions in politics and government, including serving as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore from 1995 to 1997.

He received a BA from Northwestern University and a JD from Yale Law School.