The Sorites Principle: How to Harness the Power of Perseverance

"The Sorites Principle" offers a roadmap to help us finish what we start. It's packed full of techniques to help us stay motivated, so we can move steadily toward our dreams. The key idea is that small, consistent actions over a period of time lead to great results. We learn how to plan for success, how to overcome lethargy and procrastination, and how to re-energize when the fire in our belly goes out.

Author Ian Gibbs combines practical resources, research from the fields of psychology and neuroscience, input from experts, and real-life anecdotes in a comprehensive toolkit to help us persevere.

This book is ideal for anyone who's in need of extra motivation to achieve a goal. We imagine that's a pretty big audience, given that many of us are drowning in our To-Do Lists and struggling to prioritize what really matters. Gibbs' tips are easy to digest and apply, and they're as relevant to personal dreams as to career objectives.

We should note here that "The Sorites Principle" might not be for you if you've read other books on motivation, or explored the many resources on the topic on Mind Tools. There's nothing new or groundbreaking in this book, and other authors have taken a more sophisticated approach to the subject. But if you're looking for a lively read that condenses the latest thinking on perseverance into a neat package, and gives you a shot of inspiration, we think you'll enjoy it.

Ian Gibbs is a British productivity trainer, public speaker, life coach, playwright, magazine columnist, and blogger, based in Barcelona, Spain. He specializes in coaching Spain's expatriate community to be more productive in business and to speak with confidence. He's also the founder of one of Europe's leading educational theater companies, IPA Productions, which puts on plays in English across Spain. This is his first book.

So, keep listening to hear how regular rewards can keep you on track, how to tame your inner saboteur, and how to tap into positive peer pressure.

First things first: what is "the Sorites Principle"? The idea comes from the Sorites Paradox, an ancient puzzle that explores how we perceive things. "Sorites" means "heap" in Greek. So, let's picture a heap of sand. Now imagine removing one grain of sand. Do you notice any difference? Is there still a heap? Of course there is.

Now, imagine removing another grain, and then another, and so on. The heap remains and you don't notice it getting any smaller because you're only removing a grain at a time. But if you keep going, eventually you'll be left with two grains, then one grain, and then no grains of sand. At this point, removing a single grain of sand does make a big difference – it turns a heap into a non-heap.

So, on the one hand, removing a single grain makes a barely perceptible difference, but on the other hand, this seemingly insignificant action makes the heap disappear. This is the Sorites Paradox.

Gibbs argues that if a mountain of sand can be eroded over time without us noticing, then we can also build a mountain, or move a mountain, with insignificant and barely noticeable actions too.

This idea, that we can bring about great change through tiny steps, is what he calls the Sorites Principle. Most of the book is based on this concept of slow, steady and consistent progress.

The author breaks the Sorites Principle down into three steps: planning a goal; identifying the steps to achieve it; and persevering. Gibbs offers some familiar strategies on how to plan goals, including making sure they are clear, knowing our "why," and choosing goals that are SMART – that's specific, measurable, action-oriented (or achievable), realistic (or relevant), and time-based. And he includes some tips on how to identify the pieces of the puzzle that'll help us achieve our vision.

Let's say you want to master public speaking. You might write a list of steps that includes analyzing great speakers on YouTube, reading books on public speaking, hiring a speaking coach, practicing in front of the mirror, rehearsing with colleagues, filming your speeches and watching them back, booking a low-key speaking engagement, and so forth.

That's all pretty straightforward. The hard part is staying the course, and the remaining two-thirds of the book explore how to stay motivated.

Gibbs explains why it's dangerous to rely on our limited supply of willpower, and highlights eight strategies that'll keep us on track. These all begin with the letter P: Prizes and Punishments; Progress; Passion; Peer Pressure; Pointers; Periodic Actions, Habits and Routines; Patience; and Positivity.

Each of these strategies gets its own chapter, so let's take a closer look at a few of them, starting with Prizes and Punishments.

You'll have come across the idea of rewarding yourself for achieving your goals before, but what we like about Gibbs' approach is his focus on rewarding the right actions.

He uses the analogy of running a marathon to back up this point. If you want to run a marathon but have never run long-distance before, it's going to be a huge challenge. You might be tempted to choose a big reward for when you complete the race – a holiday, a spa weekend, a new bike, or a computer.

But focusing on the end goal won't help you persevere. In fact, it'll draw your attention to the mammoth nature of the task, which might be off-putting. The key is to reward yourself for the small, daily wins – so, in this case, your training runs and gym sessions. This makes you focus on easier, more achievable actions. It also gives you a sense of progress, which is another motivator.

But, if you run on most days, that'll be a lot of celebrating, and your budget might not stretch to a daily treat. But a gold star might do the trick – yes, like the ones you got at school. Gibbs suggests we create a monthly chart, buy a pack of self-adhesive gold stars, decide on the number of stars we want to aim for each month, and then choose a specific prize or treat for when we achieve that tally. He even provides some ready-made "Star Charts" that readers can download.

The Star Chart works on a number of levels. We get a little prize at the end of the day in the form of a gold star, which gives us a dopamine hit. The chart taps into our emotional need for recognition and motivates us – and it reminds us every day to work toward our goal.

Some readers might find the idea of a Star Chart childish and simplistic, and we agree it's a basic tool. But we like the theory behind it, and it's easy to adapt.

We all need to find a rewards system that works for us – that taps into our emotions and motivates us to keep going. Some people might respond better to sticks rather than carrots, and Gibbs shares some ways to punish ourselves when we don't meet a goal, like fining ourselves and giving the money away.

Let's now look at the chapter on Passion. Here, Gibbs introduces us to a character called Grog, named after the caveman in the American comic strip "B.C." by Johnny Hart.

Grog represents the primate part of our brain that governs our feelings and values – the part that makes us lash out in anger, eat an entire bar of chocolate, open another bottle of wine, or snooze on the sofa instead of writing the next chapter of our book. Grog hijacks the more rational part of our brain – the prefrontal cortex – and often sabotages our efforts to achieve our goals.

Other experts have used different terms for Grog. Author Steve Peters refers to the "Inner Chimp" in his book, "The Chimp Paradox," while Tim Urban, co-founder of the Wait But Why? website, talks about the "Instant Gratification Monkey."

Grog doesn't speak our language, so we have to learn "Grogarian" – a form of communication based solely on emotions and feelings. Most of us respond well to strong emotions like love, injustice, pride, desire, and the burning need for recognition.

But we're all unique, so we need to work out which emotions inspire us most. We'll vastly improve our chances of staying motivated if we can channel some of these emotions toward our goal, and align our primitive brain with our rational brain.

Gibbs uses his own experience of writing "The Sorites Principle" to explain how he tamed his inner caveman. He set himself a goal of getting up two hours earlier than usual every morning to write. His Grog character was often tempted to hit the snooze button, but Gibbs used the memory of his late father to fire up his emotions and get him out of bed.

Gibbs' father had always been supportive of his son's education and professional life. This was in stark contrast to Gibbs' grandfather, who'd insisted his son leave school as soon as possible to get a "proper job," rather than go to university.

Gibbs' father eventually went to night school and became a chartered accountant, but with no paternal support. So whenever Gibbs was struggling to get up to write, he'd picture his hard-working, determined, supportive father and imagine how proud he'd be of his son for publishing a book. This emotional tug helped him persevere.

By deliberately bringing strong emotions into play like this, the rational part of our brain can steer our emotions in the direction we want. Gibbs calls this process "framing" or "reframing."

We like this idea of aligning our primitive brain with our rational brain to get excited about a task and stay motivated. Gibbs includes anecdotes to back up his arguments and suggests we use music, TED talks, and inspirational quotes to keep up our enthusiasm.

Let's now look at how we can use peer pressure in a positive way to help us achieve our goals. Peer pressure can have negative connotations. Many young people drink alcohol or take drugs because their friends cajole them into doing so. But we can use peer pressure to our advantage.

One way to do this is to get a goal partner – a colleague or friend who also wants to perfect his or her presentation skills or go jogging at lunchtime. Or, we could also join a group of people who have the same goal – for example, a writing group if we're trying to finish a novel. And if we can't find a group that suits, we could start our own.

We could also use social media as a positive influence, by connecting with our tribe online – following blogs and commenting on them, or sharing our goals, setbacks and victories on our own blogs. And we could ask those close to us for support. We could share a deadline with work colleagues, or ask family members and friends to encourage us, as we work toward a specific goal.

Many of these tips, like others in the book, are obvious and common sense, and some readers will find Gibbs' advice unoriginal. His recurring anecdotes, while colorful, are also lightweight. We hear about the man who wants to get fit, or the woman who wants to stop eating chocolate. There are no case studies of business leaders or executives, and it seems Gibbs didn't look far beyond his own networks for anecdotes. This makes the book Europe-centric.

Gibbs' writing style will also attract mixed reviews. He's a good storyteller and we like the book's lively pace, but his language is too colloquial at times, his tone extremely chirpy, and some of his attempts at humor fall flat.

On the plus side, "The Sorites Principle" is a quick and easy read, and we like how each chapter ends with a summary of main points and top tips, as well as questions that will prompt readers to take action. Even if you've heard many of Gibbs' takeaways before, you'll likely come away from this book with fresh determination to achieve one of your neglected goals, and a willingness to try some of the author's suggestions.

Motivation is tough to maintain, and procrastination hard to overcome. Many of us need all the help we can get. That's why we think this book is worth a read.

"The Sorites Principle: How to Harness the Power of Perseverance," by Ian Gibbs, is published by Guid Publications.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.