{"id":648,"date":"2011-01-02T15:59:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T15:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.renando.com\/blog\/?p=648"},"modified":"2015-02-15T19:09:01","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T19:09:01","slug":"the-anatomy-of-a-new-years-resolution-goal-setting-psychology-by-gary-latham-and-edwin-locke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/the-anatomy-of-a-new-years-resolution-goal-setting-psychology-by-gary-latham-and-edwin-locke\/","title":{"rendered":"The anatomy of a New Year&#8217;s resolution: Goal setting psychology by Gary Latham and Edwin Locke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Between 40% to 50% of American adults make New Year\u2019s resolutions.\u00a0 Of those, 77% will keep their commitment for one week, 55% for one month, 40% for six months, and only 19% for two years.\u00a0 A goal-setting model by academic gurus <a title=\"Gary Latham\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rotman.utoronto.ca\/facbios\/viewFac.asp?facultyID=latham\" target=\"_blank\">Latham<\/a> and <a title=\"Edwin Locke\" href=\"http:\/\/www.edwinlocke.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Locke<\/a> can help you be on the positive side of those statistics.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2342\" alt=\"goal setting model by latham and locke\" src=\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/goal-setting-model-by-latham-and-locke2.jpg\" width=\"675\" height=\"682\" \/><br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Choose your goal<\/h2>\n<p>The first thing to consider is how you select which goals to choose.\u00a0 Research has shown your success at achieving your goal will increase if you have more of the following two factors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Meaningful: <\/strong><em>What does this goal mean to you? <\/em><br \/>\nThe goal should have meaning to you, resulting in personal growth.\u00a0 The greater the growth, the more engaged you will be with realising the outcomes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Self-efficacy: <\/strong><em>Do you feel you can achieve this goal?<\/em><br \/>\nThe greater your self-efficacy, or your self confidence that the goal is attainable, the greater your chances of success.\u00a0 Build your belief that you can fulfil the goal through means such as remembering past success, acknowledgement of your abilities and potential, and\/or affirmation from a support network.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u00a0Moderators and Mediators<\/h2>\n<p>Here are some factors that can facilitate or hinder your attempts at achieving your goal:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ability:<\/strong> <em>Are you able to achieve this goal?<\/em><br \/>\nThe more capable you are, the more likely you are to achieve your goal.\u00a0 Keep in mind ability can be developed through the process of goal attainment.\u00a0 You get better at it the more you try to achieve it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Commitment: <\/strong><em>How committed are you to achieving this goal?<\/em><br \/>\nCommitment is expressed in thoughts, words, and actions and can be developed.\u00a0 There is some truth to the adage \u201cfake it till you feel it\u201d if it helps you achieve a worthwhile goal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Feedback:<\/strong> <em>Can you receive feedback on\u00a0your progress towards your goal?\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\nYou will have more chance of success if there is positive reinforcement between initiation and realisation.\u00a0 This has proven to be one of the more contributing elements to goal success.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Complexity:<\/strong> <em>Is the goal too complex or too simple?<\/em><br \/>\nThe more straightforward the goal, the easier it is to attain.\u00a0 Complexity is related to the nature of the task itself and is introduced through attributes such as dependency on other goals and integration or conflict with other tasks.\u00a0 Keep in mind, however, that effort and performance can increase for complex, challenging goals.\u00a0 Dumb it down too much and you won\u2019t grow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Situational constraints:<\/strong> <em>What are the barriers to achieving your goal?<\/em><br \/>\nWhile the goal can be challenging, try to remove the situational barriers as much as possible.\u00a0 If you are trying to work out, provide the time, space and money required.\u00a0 If you are losing weight, remove negative food and make positive food readily available.\u00a0 Make it easy to be a success.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Direction:<\/strong> <em>Is the goal in line wth your overall direction?<\/em><br \/>\nThe goal should be in-line with overall direction. \u00a0If I have to go out of my way to achieve my goal, it is less likely to be realised.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Effort: <\/strong><em>Are you prepared to put in the effort required to achieve your goal?<\/em><br \/>\nCommon sense dictates the more I apply myself, the more likely I will achieve my goal.\u00a0 Like commitment, effort is a conscious decision.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Persistence: <\/strong><em>Will you keep at it until the goal is realised, even when you fail?<\/em><br \/>\nKeep at it.\u00a0 The statistics of success over time are telling.\u00a0 The big challenge is continuing to apply yourself after you get back into your routine.\u00a0 If you fail, get back up.\u00a0 Failure and goal realisation are not exclusive, and are often complementary.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Task specific: <\/strong><em>Is the goal defined enough?<\/em><br \/>\nSpecificity is critical.\u00a0 \u201cDo your best\u201d or \u201cdo better\u201d goals are much more prone to failure than \u201cAccomplish X task by Y amount before Z time\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cLose weight\u201d or \u201cwork out more\u201d are less likely to succeed than \u201close 10 pounds by June\u201d.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Strategies: <\/strong><em>Have you planned out how you will achieve your goal?<\/em><br \/>\nThe more you invest in planning how you will achieve your goal, the more likely you will succeed, as compared tho those who leave it to chance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Rewards<\/h2>\n<p>Two types of rewards to consider are contingent and non-contingent rewards:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Contingent rewards: <\/strong><em>Are there ways you can reward yourself for prorgess towards your goal?<\/em><br \/>\nContingent rewards are in-line with goal success.\u00a0 If there is no form of personal return from your effort, you are unlikely to realise your goal.\u00a0 These rewards can be internal from yourself and external from others.\u00a0 They should also be iterative, received at milestones along the way to final goal attainment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Non-contingent rewards: <\/strong><em>Can you make the overall process rewarding?<\/em><br \/>\nNot as critical, non-contingent rewards are positive reinforcements not associated with the goal path but still supporting the outcome.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Outcomes<\/h2>\n<p>The model above is a straight-forward formula proven by mountains of research.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If the factors are present, you will <strong>achieve your goal<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>If you achieve your goal, you will have <strong>satisfaction<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>If you have satisfaction, you will be more likely to <strong>improve your overall life performance <\/strong>and <strong>be more inclined to set new goals<\/strong>, thus starting the process over again for more challenging and more rewarding goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The model above can act as a\u00a0situational\u00a0check list to assess how likely a goal is to be achieved as well as for reflection to assess why goals have not been achieved. \u00a0Goals are achieved when they have meaning and you believe you can do it, when you have appropriate mediators and moderators in place, and when the reward structures and feedback loops are sufficient. \u00a0The model takes away the excuses, highlighting that the emphasis on realising goals rests on the one who makes them.<\/p>\n<p>I look forward to hearing of your success as you achieve your goals in the New Year!<\/p>\n<h6><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Between 40% to 50% of American adults make New Year\u2019s resolutions.\u00a0 Of those, 77% will keep their commitment for one week, 55% for one month,&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/the-anatomy-of-a-new-years-resolution-goal-setting-psychology-by-gary-latham-and-edwin-locke\/\" class=\"bwp-excerpt-more-link\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[184,185],"tags":[42,56,61,201,93,99,100],"ecosystem_role":[],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-organisations","category-about-you","tag-edwin-locke","tag-gary-latham","tag-goal-setting","tag-leadership","tag-new-years-resolutons","tag-personal-development","tag-personal-potential","bwp-masonry-item","bwp-col-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5511,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions\/5511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"ecosystem_role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sidewaysthoughts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ecosystem_role?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}