Maintain
this Mindset you can Achieve Anything
Mindset
that makes you can Achieve anything...
One the psychological
research suggests why and what mindsets should help us to reach our goals. We're
all familiar with the nuts and bolts of goal-setting. We should set specific,
challenging goals, use rewards, record progress and make public commitments.
The biggest enemy of
any goal is excessive positive fantasising. Research
on fantasising in goal-setting
shows that positive fantasies are associated with failure to get a job, find a
partner, pass an exam or get through surgery. Those whose fantasies were more
negative did better. Don't experience the future positively before you achieve
it.
The reason we don't
achieve our goals is lack of commitment.
One powerful
psychological technique to increase commitment is mental
contrasting. This involves
entertaining a positive fantasy but then pouring a bucket of cold reality over
it. It's hard, but research shows people really respond to it.
You can use the Zeigarnik
effect to drag you on towards your goal. A Russian
psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, noticed that waiters seemed only to remember
orders which were in the process of being served. When completed, the orders
evaporated from their memory.
What the Zeigarnik
effect teaches is that one weapon for beating procrastination is starting
somewhere...anywhere. Just taking that first step could be the difference
between failure and success. Once you've started, the goal will get lodged in
your mind.
We're all susceptible
to the planning fallacy: that's thinking all will go smoothly when it won't
(and hardly ever does). Visualising the process
of reaching your goal, helps focus
attention on the steps you need to take. It also helps reduce anxiety.
5. Avoid the what-the-hell effect
When we miss our
target, we can fall foul of the what-the-hell-effect. It's best known to
dieters who go over their daily calorie limit. Reasoning the target is now
gone, they think 'what-the-hell', and start eating too much of all the wrong
food.
Goals that are
vulnerable to the what-the-hell-effect are generally short-term and inhibitional
(when you're trying to stop doing something). The effect can be avoided by
setting goals that are long-term and acquisitional.
When goals are
difficult and we wonder whether it's really worth it, procrastination can creep
up on us. Under these circumstances the key is to forget about the goal and
bury yourself in the details. Keep your head down and use self-imposed
deadlines.
You can't keep your
head down all the way or you'll get lost. In the long-term, the key to reaching
a goal is switching between a focus on the ultimate goal and the task you are
currently completing. Research suggests, when evaluating progress, especially
on difficult tasks, it's best to stay task-focused. But when tasks are easy or
the end is in site, it's better to focus on the ultimate goal
Often our behaviour is
robotic. We do things not because we've really thought about it, but because
it's a habit or we're unconsciously copying other people. This type of
behaviour can be an enemy of goal striving. Ask yourself whether what you are
doing is really getting you closer to your goal.
Goals should always be
set in the service of our overall aims. But there's a dark
side to goal setting. When goals are too
specific, it's easy to get stuck; when they are too many goals, unimportant,
easy ones get prioritised over vital, difficult ones; when they are too
short-term, they encourage short-term thinking. Badly set goals reduce
motivation and may increase unethical behaviour.
Remember to keep in
mind the whole point of the goal in the first place.
10. Know when to stop
Sometimes the problem
isn't getting started, it's knowing when to stop. Psychologists have found that
sunk costs make us do weird things (Arkes & Blumer, 1985). 'Sunk costs' refer
to the effort or money we've already expended in trying to reach our goal. So,
even when our plan is failing, we keep pushing on.
Research shows that
the more people invest in a goal, the more they think it will succeed;
irrespective of whether it actually will succeed. Know when to change tack or
you'll end up flogging a dead horse.
What all these studies
show is the importance of self-regulation in achieving a goal. Unfortunately,
as we all know to our cost, controlling the self can be very hard.
One strategy with
plenty of research to back it up is forming 'if-then' plans (Gollwitzer et
al., 2006). You simply work out in advance what you're going to do
in a particular situation. Although it sounds simple, we often prefer to wing
it, rather than plan. With a little ingenuity, though, if-then plans can be
used to surmount the obstacles described above.
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