Heading into 2012 many of us are thinking about goals and what we would like to accomplish during the new year. Thinking back to last year you might be thinking about how many things you either did or didn't end up accomplishing. Many of us started last year with good intentions for our business, personal life, health and a variety of other things. We likely made some progress but fell short of our goals. It will probably come as no surprise then to find that research has found that goals get tougher to reach the closer we get to them.
When we set a goal we are recognizing our current state of affairs, the state we want to get to and the gap between now and then. This discrepancy promotes us to take action. As our actions close this gap and we get closer and closer to the goal state our motivation decreases, seemingly because our current state more closely matches our goal state and as humans we tend to satisfice, meaning close is usually good enough for us.
So how do you overcome good enough? It is suggested that you periodically reset your reference state from the initial state to the current one. As a simple (and popular) example we'll use weight loss goals. If you currently weigh 190 lbs and you started at 220 lbs with your initial goal being 175 lbs you should reset you reference point to 190 lbs. Taking time to thoughtfully recognize the current gap and set a new goal should help re-establish your commitment and theoretically prevent you from settling for 190 lbs being good enough.
So as you head into 2012 think about continually monitoring progress, adjusting your goals and deciding if close really is good enough.
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