Goldilocks Rule

Have you ever wondered why there are divisions in all sports? Some play in high divisions and others in lower divisions. 

And the reason why leagues exist is because it gives a degree of competitive balance which makes the game more fun to watch and to play. 

The human brian loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty. 

When playing against a professional, you probably lose every single time which is demotivating.

The same applies when you play against a person below your league. The only difference is that your motivation drops not because it’s too challenging but because the game is boring.

The same applies with creating habits. 

The goldilocks rule states that people experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just Right.

When you hit the goldilocks zone just right, you can achieve a flow state. 

A state of being “in the zone” and fully immersed in an activity.

In the book, atomic habits, it has been discussed that it’s essential to make the task easy in the beginning. 

You build a habit by making it desirable and easy to do. 

However, maintaining the habit requires challenges that are at a manageable difficult level. 

A delicate balance, the midpoint between boredom and anxiety. 

Without any challenges, the habit becomes boring. And boredom is perhaps the greatest villain on the quest for self-improvement.

“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom”

One of the benefits of following the goldilock rule is that you will keep the habit interesting for a while. 

However, you do have to keep in mind that no habit will stay interesting forever.

You can do anything to make the habit interesting but eventually the habit becomes dull. 

Therefore, you have to fall in love with boredom.

Boredom is unavoidable.

And you and everybody else will eventually face the same problem but the way you deal with boredom will determine your success.

“Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.”

The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over.