Positive emotions increases motivational energy

2 January 2026·seedling·Sabiqul Hoque

Feeling good makes it easier to complete tasks and builds motivation.

Follow On Thoughts

This often means starting on a small easy to complete task tends to be something that is quite energising and can create momentum to complete other tasks.

Connected Ideas (Similar / Opposing Ideas)

Increased motivational energy can increase productivity which leads to feelings of achievement which creates a positive feedback loop
Improvements in the fun factor can result in productivity gains. However, some things which may increase the fun (e.g. music) reduce the depth of the work and may counteract the notion of distraction free environment for Deep Work.
- It tends to be a trade off with a inverted parabola (e.g. y=(x-3)²+2 {y≥0}, where x is ’fun factor’ and y is productivity). At some point (e.g. \(3-\sqrt{2}\)), the fun factor is high enough that you can actually start to be productive and do work (before which the activation energy to start is too high, so your productivity is low). It peaks until some level of fun factor (e.g. 3) and then dips to 0 as you become more distraction as the fun factor increases (e.g. \(3+\sqrt{2}\)).

Sources

From Feel‑Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You

Cite this note

@online{hoque2026positive,
  author = {Sabiqul Hoque},
  title = {Positive emotions increases motivational energy},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://sabicool.github.io/Braindump/notes/20260102210152-positive_emotions_increases_motivational_energy.html},
  organization = {Braindump}
}