Goal Orientation For Self Motivation

In 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Jeff Brown, Mark Fenske, and Liz Neporent, The authors argue that goal orientation is one of keys to motivation. (Brown, Fenske, Neporent, 2010)

They use the example of a student who had set a goal of attending college and found the motivation to do so despite little counseling or support from her high school.

I could see myself using goal orientation. If I have a goal in mind it makes sense that I would be more motivated to move towards it rather than just accomplishing task after task.

How I going to apply Goal Orientation

To make sure I’m thinking of my goal I’m going to have a piece of paper with my goal on the top and each task will be listed below it. After I complete each task I’ll scribble out a task so with each task I complete I’m closer to a goal. For this experiment my goal will simply be done with work for the day.

(Here’s what it looks like)

Hopefully by seeing how my tasks add up to my goal I’ll be more motivated to do my tasks.

How it went

Though It was fun to cross something out every time I finished a task having one goal at the top didn’t make it easier to do tasks.

Throughout this process I wasn’t thinking “I should do the next tasks because it will bring me closer to my goal” I was thinking “Maybe I should do this next task because I don’t like having a half complete piece of paper”.

If I had a better goal such as “get a new job” I may have been more inclined to complete the task but such a faraway goal is hard to consistently think about.

Would I reccomend Goal Orientation:

Not the way I did it. If you have a better goal or a different way to set it up you might have better luck than me.

Brown, Jeff, and Mark Fenske. The Winner’s Brain : 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success, Da Capo Press, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/buffalo/detail.action?docID=496449.