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gretaxo's review
- Motivation is the pride you take in work you have already done—which fuels your willingness to do even more
- It's like a lightning-bolt burst of motivation, like a sugar rush: It feels great but is impossible to maintain
- Wait for a sudden burst of inspiration and you’ll never get started . . . and if you do manage to ride that initial sugar-rush wave, you’ll never stick with it, because sugar rushes never last
- motivation isn’t something you have. Motivation is something you get, from yourself, automatically, from feeling good about achieving small successes
- Accomplishing something, no matter how small the task, makes us feel better about ourselves. That’s why to-do lists are so popular
- Real motivation comes after you start
andreaereads's review against another edition
2.0
This book can be summed up by these quotes from the author himself:
I was in the grip of an insidious myth. I thought motivation was a prerequisite to starting a tedious learning process—a spark necessary to get me going. But motivation is really a result. Motivation is the fire that starts burning after you manually, painfully, coax it into existence, and it feeds on the satisfaction of seeing yourself make progress. - p.11
Humble beginnings can create the perfect foundation for success, because starting at the bottom creates almost endless opportunities to enjoy small successes. -p12
There is only one recipe for gaining motivation: success. Specifically, the dopamine hits we get when we observe ourselves making progress. p.12
Even though I don't think the book gets any better than these quotes. I found majority of the content to be extremely lack luster and hadn't offered anything new that is useful. I gave it two stars because I found the first two chapters to be very impactful and something that has completely changed my outlook in life. However the rest of the book is abysmal and terribly disappointing so I just skimmed through all of it just so I can be done with it.
I was in the grip of an insidious myth. I thought motivation was a prerequisite to starting a tedious learning process—a spark necessary to get me going. But motivation is really a result. Motivation is the fire that starts burning after you manually, painfully, coax it into existence, and it feeds on the satisfaction of seeing yourself make progress. - p.11
Humble beginnings can create the perfect foundation for success, because starting at the bottom creates almost endless opportunities to enjoy small successes. -p12
There is only one recipe for gaining motivation: success. Specifically, the dopamine hits we get when we observe ourselves making progress. p.12
Even though I don't think the book gets any better than these quotes. I found majority of the content to be extremely lack luster and hadn't offered anything new that is useful. I gave it two stars because I found the first two chapters to be very impactful and something that has completely changed my outlook in life. However the rest of the book is abysmal and terribly disappointing so I just skimmed through all of it just so I can be done with it.
marginaliant's review against another edition
4.0
Depending on your personal bullshit limits you might either find his writing style annoying or endearing—I tend towards endearing myself. You might enjoy it if you like productivity books but are looking for something different than the usual bravado.
clovemorris's review against another edition
3.0
Ugh, mixed feelings. There are principles here that are new to me as a not-so-highly-motivated person and this is helpful in areas I've felt stuck. I'm not looking to be an entrepreneur and have no desire to find my value in success, but I'm interested in discipline and using my time better.
It's easy for me to filter out the examples, attitudes, and mind sets that aren't helpful to me, but it's worth mentioning that this book is for a very specific type of person and gives absolutely no nod to limitations that are not self-imposed: gender, race, disabilities to name a few.
If it's still helpful for you to hear that very narrow focus, then this book is great! But if you tend to get overwhelmed hearing someone give advice from a very privilege-framed perspective, stay away or be ready to filter out a good portion of the book. There are pieces here that are still universally valuable.
It's easy for me to filter out the examples, attitudes, and mind sets that aren't helpful to me, but it's worth mentioning that this book is for a very specific type of person and gives absolutely no nod to limitations that are not self-imposed: gender, race, disabilities to name a few.
If it's still helpful for you to hear that very narrow focus, then this book is great! But if you tend to get overwhelmed hearing someone give advice from a very privilege-framed perspective, stay away or be ready to filter out a good portion of the book. There are pieces here that are still universally valuable.
sir_ehssan's review against another edition
5.0
5 star for the Cover idea!
5 star to Jeffs style of writing and humor.
5 star for the fun I had while reading it.
5 Star to most of the Content, specially the first 70 Pages which is the part about focusing on Process.
5 star for not overusing stories and examples, like what is currently most of the Self-help books.
5 star for criticizing common ideas that only emotionally motivate people but soon become ineffective.
3 star for the Nonlinear content, some part just interrupt the the story line.
3 Star for not telling new Ideas, most of the content was more a repetition of other already published books. So the ideas functioned more as a reminder.
I will keep this book on my desk just to remind myself about its content and the fun I had reading it.
once again Awesome simple Cover design!
5 star to Jeffs style of writing and humor.
5 star for the fun I had while reading it.
5 Star to most of the Content, specially the first 70 Pages which is the part about focusing on Process.
5 star for not overusing stories and examples, like what is currently most of the Self-help books.
5 star for criticizing common ideas that only emotionally motivate people but soon become ineffective.
3 star for the Nonlinear content, some part just interrupt the the story line.
3 Star for not telling new Ideas, most of the content was more a repetition of other already published books. So the ideas functioned more as a reminder.
I will keep this book on my desk just to remind myself about its content and the fun I had reading it.
once again Awesome simple Cover design!
bookfairy99's review against another edition
2.0
Haden's premise for this entire book boils down to this: "Work harder, you lazy ass. How do you expect success if you don't work your ass off?" THE MOTIVATION MYTH plays right into the myth of hustle culture. "It's not about talent; it's about hard work." The more effort you put in, the closer you'll get to the top, where success is guaranteed. The problem is that this "hustle harder" theory has been disproven time and time again. Yet, Haden repeats it as though we would all be wildly successful if we weren't so damned lazy, without considering physical, mental and social impediments that also play a factor.
The writing style is cringe-worthy, and Haden's frequent parenthetical asides to his name-dropped friends (aw, shucks, Tim Ferriss) are beyond annoying. Nevertheless, I'm giving this two stars because the first couple of chapters are somewhat intriguing before the book degenerates into terrible advice and a summary of ideas from other texts. Maybe I just need to admit that I'm not going to find what I'm looking for in these rehashed, generic self-help tomes and stop reading them.
The writing style is cringe-worthy, and Haden's frequent parenthetical asides to his name-dropped friends (aw, shucks, Tim Ferriss) are beyond annoying. Nevertheless, I'm giving this two stars because the first couple of chapters are somewhat intriguing before the book degenerates into terrible advice and a summary of ideas from other texts. Maybe I just need to admit that I'm not going to find what I'm looking for in these rehashed, generic self-help tomes and stop reading them.
zeldam's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.0
There are definitely some interesting points in this book - and there is clearly a good deal of research put into the writing process. The writing is relatively funny at times, making the book more enjoyable to read. However, I would not recommend it to people experiencing mental health issues (especially depression and anxiety) looking to find practical ways to overcome their lack of motivation. This book has a very "type A, American financial guy" and some of the tips are likely to make those readers more anxious and/or guilty for their own lack of motivation. I personally really did not like the frequent mention of how "losing weight is necessarily a good thing" as it is a very triggering topic, which ultimately promotes a harmful diet culture. Finally, I found that the author made some over-simplifications and did not account for structural issues (racism/misogyny/ homophobia/ poverty etc...) that act as huge bars to what he considers as "successes" necessarily achievable if you really put your mind to it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia