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motivation
You work significantly faster as you approach a goal.
The goal gradient effect shows that the closer you are to finishing a task, the more effort you invest to complete it.
In a 2006 study, participants with digital stamp cards were more likely to use them as they neared the goal of a free item. The perception of progress increases your motivation more than the distance remaining.
You are most efficient when you can see the finish line.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Kivetz, Urminsky, and Zheng, 2006, The Goal Gradient Effect
- What the check found
- The definition is accurate and the cited study is a major modern contribution to the field, though the origins of the effect predate the 2006 paper by decades.
- Confidence
- Contested
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.