Have you ever hit a milestone you’ve been working towards, feel excited for a moment and then immediately think, “What’s next?”.
A couple of weeks ago, my 8th YouTube video performed a lot better than my others. It was exciting! Especially because I didn’t expect any of my first 10-20 videos to really get any views!
But then I started thinking, “How do I repeat this? How can I make something even better?”
What had felt like a big success now became my new baseline.
It reminded me of a few concepts in behavioural science, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with this feeling of self-applied pressure to exceed my new expectations.
I knew it would be unrealistic and potentially demotivating to expect the same results from my next video.
I looked into what I could do to manage these feelings.
Lifestyle inflation
Achieving better results from the video was just like getting a salary increase at work.
It feels good for a while, but we soon quickly adapt to the new levels of income. Maybe we treat ourselves to a few more dinners out, upgrade the car or move to a nicer apartment.
Lifestyle Inflation explains how we just adjust our expectations to the new levels.
Adaptation-Level theory
When you first enter a coffee shop, you might notice the smell of the coffee beans, the sounds of people chatting and the machine grinding the beans. But after a few minutes you get used to them and don’t notice them anymore.
This is related to Adaptation-level theory which explains we become less sensitive to stimuli that doesn’t change.
As we experience new levels of success, our past achievements feel ordinary.
Unexpected rewards
Neuroscientist Wolfram Schultz’s research on dopamine found that our brains release the most dopamine when rewards are unexpected.
Once success becomes predictable, the excitement diminishes, leaving us wanting more.
If you get used to running a certain distance in a particular time, then doesn’t lead to the same dopamine high as it used to.
So what can we do?
Here are the things I’ve been doing over the last week or so to try to keep my expectations realistic.
Redefine success
Instead of measuring my success by external metrics like how many views a video got, I’m focussing on non-tangible markers.
- Am I proud of what I made?
- What did I get better at?
- Did I make something meaningful?
- Was this a step towards the legacy I want to create?
- Was this in alignment with my values?
Celebrate!
I usually just brush past my wins and dive right into the next thing. But this time, I really tried to acknowledge the success.
Treating myself to come chocolate or playing a pc game don’t really work as ways for me to celebrate. Although rewards like this might work for you.
Instead, I find it more rewarding to share the success with someone else. But this only works for me if it’s someone who understands what it means to achieve it.
In this case, I took screenshots of the video’s stats and shared them with one of my YouTuber friends. While the words of encouragement and positive feedback were lovely, it was more important to me to share the moment with someone who gets it.
And I have some nice screenshots to look back on in the future!
Set ‘enough’ goals
Of course, setting a goal for how many views each video gets isn’t going to work because it’s completely out of my control.
However, what I can do is focus on the output. For me, one good video per week is enough.
But within every video I challenge myself to try something new. A new screen type, editing technique, scripting method etc.
Instead of trying to make every video a million times better than the last one, I focus on sustainable improvements over time. As a natural perfectionist, this is hard sometimes, but I’m getting better at it!
So instead of drastically moving the goalposts when you reach a new milestone, figure out what enough looks like for you in that area of your life.
What is a sustainable, fulfilling level of progress and success for you?
Key takeaway
Growth is important, but so is appreciating where we are right now.