Find the fun path

Strategy 2: Find a fun path. When we find a path to a goal that is fun or interesting, we are excited about doing it and we have a better chance at success. The activity feels like an end in itself. In motivation science, we refer to this activity as intrinsically motivating. Intrinsic motivation is the best predictor of engagement in just about everything. When people are intrinsically motivated, they are more likely to follow through on work tasks, healthy eating, exercising, and their new year's resolutions. But people often underestimate how important it is to find a fun path to a goal. In one study, we asked people to choose between listening to the song "Hey Jude" by the Beatles and listening to a loud alarm for one minute. Seems like an obvious choice, right? But most of the people in our study chose the loud alarm because it paid more. They wanted to maximize their earnings in the experiment. Yet those who listened to this terrible noise were also more likely to regret the…