People Who Achieve Goals Aren’t Just Self-Disciplined
Remember the marshmallow test, in which children were given a treat and told they could have a second one if they delayed eating it? That experiment measured self-control, which both research and intuition suggest is vital to achieving goals. A new study finds another factor that informs who reaches the finish line: the type of goals people set.
The researchers conducted three surveys involving more than 800 people in all. In the first, subjects listed recent goals, rated how well those goals aligned with their “true selves,” and indicated their prog ress toward them. The more closely a goal aligned with a person’s sense of self—what the researchers call goal authenticity—the greater the prog ress. In the second survey, subjects indicated their prog ress toward goals that made them “feel like they are really being themselves” and toward ones that “made other people like them” or “made other people respect them.” Here, too, prog ress correlated with authenticity.
A third survey eliminated the recollective aspect of the first two: Subjects were asked to set a new goal, to rate how much it “reflects who I am deep down inside,” and to report back a week later. Once again people made greater prog ress toward more-authentic goals. The study also found that people who rate themselves high on self-control are more likely to set authentic goals. “[This] research has provided initial evidence showing that the benefits of trait self-control might lie not only in how people pursue goals but also in what kind of goals they select in the first place,” the researchers write.
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