Mixed signals are what keep us stuck choosing today’s easy road over tomorrow’s future we say we want.
I’m reading a book "Mixed Signals: how incentives really work" - about how different kinds of rewards send very clear signals about what’s valued and rewarded around here.
And those signals shape behavior far more than intentions ever do.
If you say you want innovation but reward consistent performance,
you’ll get safe bets, not experiments that fail most of the time and occasionally pay off 10x.
If you say you want great team performance but reward individual wins the most,
you’ll get a bunch of stars pulling the cart toward whatever benefits them.
If you say you want a beach body but only get joy from pizza nights and late evenings,
guess what you’ll get more of?
You don’t get what you say you want.
You get what you incentivize.
What you reward.
What you make pleasurable.
This is why my clients who truly shift into fitter, healthier, more intentional lives don’t just “do the right things.”
They become people who enjoy the work.
They enjoy waking up fresh more than late nights.
They enjoy the sweat, not just the mirror.
They enjoy recovery, sleep, and nourishment, not just "busy days".
They enjoy seeing friends and family adopt their habits, not just planning another movie night.
For the human brain, the strongest reward is joy and pleasure in the here and now, not some distant payoff a year from now.
The real long-term switch of habits happens when you stop enjoying the dreamer on the couch and start enjoying the person who shows up for work.
Over to you dear reader, where in your pursuit of your best self are you still running on “have to”?
And where could you redesign the work so the reward is built into the doing itself?
