The trap of focusing on your goals

Visualising success is not what it’s cracked up to be

It turns out that focusing on what you want may actually decrease your chances of getting it. What's worse, this focus could also be compromising your ethics without you even realising it. 

I spent fifteen years of my life training and competing as a kickboxer and boxer, and for much of that time, I thought the very best thing I could do in the leadup to a fight was imagine myself ultimately at the top of the podium, showered in glory. I assumed I had to see it to believe it and then make it happen. 

But research shows that focusing too much on the objective can actually reduce our chances of success by sapping our energy, motivation and focus. 

It's easy to see how we've fallen into this trap. It feels like a very positive thing to imagine ourselves receiving the medal, promotion, or standing ovation, all our hard work finally paying off.

But that feel-good factor is a big part of the problem. We get a hit of dopamine when we imagine ourselves already having succeeded, and that can satisfy our lust for achievement just enough to numb the drive to do the actual work.

Another issue is that too much focus on the end goal makes everything binary: "Either I get my victory, or I have failed". I speak from experience when I say that this kind of black-and-white thinking can add an unbearable amount of pressure. For me, it led to anxiety, depression, burnout and years of illness. Even if it doesn't take you that far, you're still likely to encourage increased stress, procrastination, worrying and perfectionist anxiety.

But that's not even the end of this nasty list. Studies have also found that as a result of impaired perspective, risk-taking, and optionality, excessive goal focus can lead to abuse of power, a distorted ethical perspective, and other general unpleasantness. Think: Purdue Pharma mismarketing the addiction to pain-relieving OxyContin, contributing to the opioid crisis. Or athletes taking performance enhancing drugs to get the win. Those are big examples, but we're all capable of smaller versions of similar transgressions, and while in the grip of our lust for success, we may not even register it happening.

So what's the solution? 

None of this means we shouldn't set goals. We need goals. But we do have to be careful about which goals we set, how we set them and what we give our focus to while on the road.

So here are three tips for better, healthier, more effective, and potentially more ethical goal-setting:

1. Set process goals as opposed to outcome goals.
   Make the specific work or tasks required into the objective rather than the end result. To get motivated, imagine yourself in the process of getting it done, rather than having it done.
   

2. Set implementation intentions instead of goal intentions.
   This is related to the above, but not quite the same. An implementation intention refers to an if-then plan that specifies the exact behavior you'll perform in a particular situation. For example, “If I sustain an injury in the leadup to this fight, I'll rest until it has healed or train a different part of my body if possible”.
   

3. Broaden the goal scope.
   In addition to your initial goal, set a higher one that’s linked to your values – for example, social justice, compassion, or time with family. This makes it easier to tolerate hiccups, consider alternate routes, and potentially stay on track ethically as you remain linked to the bigger picture. 

   ---

   Thank you for reading!

   We’re Hazel (ex boxer, therapist and author) and Ellie (ex psychology science writer). We left our jobs to build an interactive narrative app for self-awareness and emotion regulation (Betwixt), which you can try on Android here and on iOS here.

   

   ---