When you set your goals - consider these three tips from Harvard Business Review.
First, factor in enjoyment when choosing which activity to pursue to achieve your goals. For example, choosing a weight-lifting exercise based on enjoyment led gym goers to complete more repetitions of their exercise. On average, they completed 52% more repetitions of the exercise they selected based on enjoyment versus one they selected based on effectiveness. So, if you want to work out more, select a fitness class that you enjoy. If you want to succeed at work, find a work task or a work environment that you enjoy. And if you want to eat healthier, build a diet plan around healthy foods you actually like to eat.
Second, give yourself more immediate benefits as you pursue long-term goals. We found that high school students worked longer on a math assignment when they listened to music, ate snacks, and used colored pens while working. Immediate benefits make difficult tasks seem less like work and more like fun. Making activities more enjoyable, by listening to music while exercising or working in your favorite coffee shop, may help you persist in your goals.
Third, reflect on the immediate benefits you get while working toward your goal. For example, we found that people ate almost 50% more of a healthy food when they focused on the positive taste, compared with another group that focused on the health benefits. When you are pursuing a goal, seeking out the positive experience—to the extent that it offers one—may aid your persistence.
Setting a goal is the first step toward achieving the delayed outcomes you want. Yet, forgoing immediate outcomes or daily pleasures can undermine these goals. By making the experience more rewarding in the moment, you’ll have a better chance at success.
No matter what your experience in the past 12 months, we see this as a really important moment to ‘Reflect and Reset’.
We believe that it is important to acknowledge what has worked, and to focus on what you can celebrate and be grateful for.
Equally, it’s important to appreciate the tough lessons learned so that we can draw on for many years to come.
In our “Reflect and Reset” planner we focus on the things we can control, no matter the circumstances. By setting goals with strategies, creating a vision and having clear purpose, no matter what is occurring around you, you can stay true to your own path and still find fulfilment.
