Influencing: Focus on the Small Number

People are more motivated to complete a task when they get feedback that focuses on small rather than large numbers. When persuading people to pursue a task or goal providing feedback on whatever is the smaller number - either progress made or effort remaining - is more motivating. For example, ‚Äúwe’re already 20% towards our target” is better than ‚Äúwe’ve 80% left to go.”