Goal Setting

Goal Setting

Goal setting is a key component of happiness and here on HappierHuman, we take goal setting seriously. You need to be able to set and reach your goals if you want to succeed in achieving happiness.

We will discuss this like goal setting worksheets, how to set goals, types of goal setting, SMART goal setting and much more.

Goal Setting Theory

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If you want to succeed at anything significant in life, setting goals is essential. Goals are the roadmaps of our lives. They tell us where we are going. They give us a path to get there and may even point out the danger that lays ahead. Goals can even act as the “fuel” that powers … Read more

Goal Setting Research

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There is impressive science behind the theory of goal setting. This post is a sampling of the research on goal setting, in chronological order. This goal setting research list contains most of the high points on our understanding of the importance of goal setting found by scientists, psychologists and other researchers over the past 40+ … Read more

Performance or Mastery?

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Performance or mastery? A simple change in perspective can be the difference between success and failure. Do you think of your goal in terms of doing better than others, or in terms of learning? The thought of doing better than others can be exciting and motivating. But the thought of doing worse can be unsettling. … Read more

Approach or Avoidance?

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What is better when setting goals, approach or avoidance? Is it better to focus on avoiding things you hate and want to avoid or focus on the positive things you want from life? This post takes a deep look at approach vs avoidance to find out if it is more motivating to set goals that … Read more

The Myth of Inspiration – Why Feeling Excited Isn’t Enough

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You're excited. You feel that this time will be different.

I want it bad enough. I can do this.

You start making plans. Maybe, you take the first step.

But then its gone. After a few hours or a few days, you're back to normal. Feeling mundane, doing the mundane.

Why?

Two reasons.

Problem 1. Inspiration escapes as quickly as it enters.

Hunger is natural. When we ignore it, it gets stronger and stronger until all we can think about is food.

Inspiration is unnatural. With the passage of time, it leaks out of our body, as if it doesn't belong.

No surprise – it doesn't.

Hunger comes, whether we want it to or not. Inspiration doesn't.

That's why we read inspirational books and videos, again and again and again and again. But watching inspirational videos and reading uplifting stories takes time and has an inconsistent effect, sometimes getting us excited, other times leaving us bored.

That's why personal coaches and motivational speakers are so fond of positive visualization. Of imagining your desires having already come true. That's inspiring.

Unfortunately, inspiration isn't enough.

Problem 2. Inspiration unconverted to motivation feels good but doesn't lead to action.

How often have you felt excited and then done nothing to show for it?

There isn't some sort of excitement threshold, past which you actually start getting your goals done. Excitement is like salt water – by itself, completely useless. It takes a purifier to change it into something useful.

Goal setting isn't primarily effective because it's inspiring, but because it converts transient desire into long-term focus and commitment. It's a purifier.

But often, it's not enough.

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Difficult, Not Easy

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The harder the goal, the smaller the motivation. Right? Unless the reward also got better, the effort wouldn’t be worth it anymore. That’s why I use to choose easy over difficult. When trying to accomplish difficult long-term goals, I would break them up into easy sub-goals. Easy means reason for optimism and less effort. That … Read more

Now, Not Later

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Everyone I've met has at least one realistic dream they'd like to see come true.

They'd like to have a good body. Or be nicer. Or learn a hobby.

But when I ask them what they're doing to make it come true, almost always, stripping away the wishy-washy, what I hear is “nothing”.

Not surprising. Our brains were wired to be short-sighted.

Procrastination isn't a mark of the lazy. It's the default, a mark of normality.

Animated Hyperbolic Discounting - now not later

Although college kids are the most likely to wait until the last minute, the problem is universal. According to online goal setting community 43things.com , stop procrastination is the third most popular goal (no surprise, lose weight is #1).

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The World’s Best (Free) Guide to Goal Setting

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Dream big dreams; only big dreams have the power to move men’s souls.

-Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome

It's a paradox. It's the big goals that excite us and get us to stop hitting the snooze button. They make us feel alive. They make the boring interesting, and the frustrating exciting.

But it's the big goals that are the least likely to end up accomplished.

After a short burst of energy, the excitement and interest fizzles. And then, maybe, you get excited once again. And then, just like last time, after a short burst of energy, the excitement fizzles and takes you back to where you started, with little or no progress to show for it.

For much of my life, I've set only realistic goals. Goals that could be easily accomplished. After all, what's the point of dreaming big if the obvious result is failure?

But I've gotten greedy. I'd rather get work done AND feel inspired.

I don't want to have just enough motivation to get by. I want as much as possible. More motivation equals more energy and more life.

Are you greedy too?

Do you want more accomplishment, more energy, more happiness, more life?

Then welcome to the world's best free guide to goal setting.

Inspiration Rollercoaster

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