Fall asleep to the surprisingly winding tale of goal setting—where ambition meets ancient philosophy and productivity tips you’ll forget by morning. Perfect for relaxation, bedtime, or avoiding your planner.
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Pleasant Grove, UT, USA
Transcript
Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast, Where I bore you to sleep with my soothing voice, One fact at a time. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Let's settle in and get ready to learn a little and sleep a lot. Tonight's episode is about goals. A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, Plan, And commit to achieve. People endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or aim, Anticipate a result, Which guides reaction, Or an end, Which is an object, Either a physical object or an abstract object, That has intrinsic value. Goal-setting theory was formulated based on empirical research and has been called one of the most important theories in organizational psychology. Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, The fathers of goal-setting theory, Provided a comprehensive review of the core findings of the theory in 2002. In summary, Locke and Latham found that specific, Difficult goals lead to higher performance than either easy goals or instructions to do your best, As long as feedback about progress is provided, The person is committed to the goal, And the person has the ability and knowledge to perform the task. According to Locke and Latham, Goals affect performance in the following ways. 1. Goals direct attention and effort toward goal-relevant activities. 2. Difficult goals lead to greater effort. 3. Goals increase persistence with difficult goals prolonging effort. 4. Goals indirectly lead to arousal and to discovery and use of task-relevant knowledge and strategies. Some coaches recommend establishing specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, And time-bound SMART objectives, But not all researchers agree that these SMART criteria are necessary. The SMART framework does not include goal difficulty as a criterion. In the goal-setting theory of Locke and Latham, It is recommended to choose goals within the 90th percentile of difficulty, Based on the average prior performance of those that have performed the task. Goals can be long-term, Intermediate, Or short-term. The primary difference is the time required to achieve them. Short-term goals are expected to be finished in a relatively short period of time, Long-term goals in a long period of time, And intermediate in a medium period of time. Before an individual can set out to achieve a goal, They must first decide on what their desired end state will be. Peter Golitzer's mindset theory of action phases proposes that there are two phases in which an individual must go through if they wish to achieve a goal. For the first phase, The individual will mentally select their goal by specifying the criteria and deciding on which goal they will set based on their commitment to seeing it through. The second phase is the planning phase in which the individual will decide which set of behaviors are at their disposal and will allow them to best reach their desired end state or goal. Certain characteristics of a goal help define the goal and determine an individual's motivation to achieve that goal. The characteristics of a goal make it possible to determine what motivates people to achieve a goal and, Along with other personal characteristics, May predict goal achievement. Importance is determined by a goal's attractiveness, Intensity, Relevance, Priority, And sign. Importance can range from high to low. Difficulty is determined by general estimates of probability of achieving the goal. Specificity is determined if the goal is qualitative and ranges from being vague to precisely stated. Typically, A higher-level goal is vaguer than a lower-level sub-goal. For example, Wanting to have a successful career is vaguer than wanting to obtain a master's degree. Temporal range is determined by the duration of the goal and the range from proximal immediate to distal delayed. Level of consciousness refers to a person's cognitive awareness of a goal. Awareness is typically greater for proximal goals than for distal goals. Complexity of a goal is determined by how many sub-goals are necessary to achieve the goal and how one goal connects to another. For example, Graduating college could be considered a complex goal because it has many sub-goals, Such as making good grades, And is connected to other goals, Such as gaining meaningful employment. Individuals can set personal goals. A student may set a goal of a high mark in an exam. An athlete might run five miles a day. A traveler might try to reach a destination city within three hours. An individual might try to reach financial goals, Such as saving for retirement or saving for a purchase. Managing goals can give returns in all areas of personal life. Knowing precisely what one wants to achieve makes clear what to concentrate and improve on, And often can help one subconsciously prioritize on that goal. However, Successful goal adjustment, Goal disengagement, And goal re-engagement capacities is also a part of leading a healthy life. Goal setting and planning, Goal work, Promotes long-term vision, Intermediate mission, And short-term motivation. It focuses intention, Desire, Acquisition of knowledge, And helps to organize resources. Efficient goal work includes recognizing and resolving all guilt, Inner conflict, Or limiting belief that might cause one to sabotage one's efforts. By setting clearly defined goals, One can subsequently measure and take pride in the accomplishment of those goals. One can see progress in what might have seemed a long, Perhaps difficult, Grind. Achieving complex and difficult goals requires focus, Long-term diligence, And effort. Success in any field requires foregoing excuses and justifications for poor performance or lack of adequate planning. In short, Success requires emotional maturity. The measure of belief that people have in their ability to achieve a personal goal also affects that achievement. Long-term achievements rely on short-term achievements. Emotional control over the small moments of the single day can make a big difference in the long term. There has been a lot of research conducted looking at the link between achieving desired goals, Changes to self-efficacy and integrity, And ultimately changes to subjective well-being. Goal efficacy refers to how likely an individual is to succeed in achieving their goal. Goal integrity refers to how consistent one's goals are with core aspects of the self. Research has shown that a focus on goal efficacy is associated with happiness, A factor of well-being, And goal integrity is associated with meaning, Psychology, Another factor of well-being. Multiple studies have shown the link between achieving long-term goals and changes in subjective well-being. Most research shows that achieving goals that hold personal meaning to an individual increases feelings of subjective well-being. Psychologist Robert Emmons found that when humans pursue meaningful projects and activities without primarily focusing on happiness, Happiness often results as a byproduct. Indicators of meaningfulness predict positive effects on life, While lack of meaning predicts negative states such as psychological distress. Emmons summarizes the four categories of meaning which have appeared throughout various studies. He proposes to call them WIST, Or Work, Intimacy, Spirituality, And Transcendence. Furthermore, Those who value extrinsic goals higher than intrinsic goals tend to have lower subjective well-being and higher levels of anxiety. The self-concordance model is a model that looks at the sequence of steps that occur from the commencement of a goal to attaining that goal. It looks at the likelihood and impact of goal achievement based on the type of goal and meaning of the goal to the individual. Different types of goals impact both goal achievement and the sense of subjective well-being brought about by achieving the goal. The model breaks down factors that promote first striving to achieve a goal, Then achieving a goal, And then the factors that connect goal achievement to changes in subjective well-being. Goals that are pursued to fulfill intrinsic values or to support an individual's self-concept are called self-concordant goals. Self-concordant goals fulfill basic needs and align with what psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott called an individual's true self. Because these goals have personal meaning to an individual and reflect an individual's self-identity, Self-concordant goals are more likely to receive sustained effort over time. In contrast, Goals that do not reflect an individual's internal drive and are pursued due to external factors, E. G. Social pressures, Emerge from a non-integrated region of a person and are therefore more likely to be abandoned when obstacles occur. Those who attain self-concordant goals reap greater well-being benefits from their attainment. Attainment to well-being effects are mediated by need satisfaction, I. E. Daily activity-based experiences of autonomy, Competence, I. E. Daily activity-based experiences of autonomy, Competence, And relatedness that accumulate during the period of striving. The model is shown to provide a satisfactory fit to three longitudinal datasets and to be independent of the effects of self-efficacy, Implementation intentions, Avoidance framing, And life skills. Furthermore, Self-determination theory and research surrounding this theory shows that if an individual effectively achieves a goal, But that goal is not self-endorsed or self-concordant, Well-being levels do not change despite goal attainment. In organizations, Goal management consists of the process of recognizing or inferring goals of individual team members, Abandoning goals that are no longer relevant, Identifying and resolving conflicts among goals, And prioritizing goals consistently for optimal team collaboration and effective operations. For any successful commercial system, It means deriving profits by making the best quality of goods or the best quality of services available to end-users, Customers, At the best possible cost. Goal management includes assessment and dissolution of non-rational blocks to success, Time management, Frequent reconsideration, Consistency checks, Feasibility checks, Adjusting milestones, And main goal targets. Jens Rasmussen and Morten Lind distinguish three fundamental categories of goals related to technological system management. These are 1. Production Goals, 2. Safety Goals, And 3. Economy Goals. Organizational goal management aims for individual employee goals and objectives to align with the vision and strategic goals of the entire organization. Goal management provides organizations with a mechanism to effectively communicate corporate goals and strategic objectives to each person across the entire organization. The key consists of having it all emanate from a pivotal source and providing each person with a clear, Consistent organizational goal message so that every employee understands how their efforts contribute to an enterprise's success. Examples of goal types in business management. Consumer Goals. This refers to supplying a product or service that the market or consumer wants. Product Goals. This refers to supplying an outstanding value proposition compared to the other products, Perhaps due to factors such as quality, Design, Reliability, And novelty. Operational Goals. This refers to running the organization in such a way as to make the best use of management skills, Technology, And resources. Secondary Goals. This refers to goals which an organization does not regard as priorities. Goal Displacement occurs when the original goals of an entity or organization are replaced over time by different goals. In some instances, This creates problems because the new goals may exceed the capacity of the mechanisms put in place to meet the original goals. New goals adopted by an organization may also increasingly become focused on internal concerns, Such as establishing and enforcing structures for reducing common employee disputes. In some cases, The original goals of the organization become displaced in part by repeating behaviors that become traditional within the organization. For example, A company that manufactures widgets may decide to seek good publicity by putting on a fundraising drive for a popular charity or by having it attend at a local county fair. If the fundraising drive or county fair tent is successful, The company may choose to make this an annual tradition and may eventually involve more and more employees and resources in the new goal of raising the most charitable funds or of having the best county fair tent. In some cases, Goals are displaced because the initial problem is resolved or the initial goal becomes impossible to pursue. A famous example is the March of Dimes, Which began as an organization to fund the fight against polio, But once that disease was effectively brought under control by the polio vaccine, Transitioned to being an organization for combating birth defects. Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, The fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought, The capacity to think ahead, As a prime mover in human evolution. Planning is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. It involves the use of logic and imagination to visualize not only a desired result, But the steps necessary to achieve that result. An important aspect of planning is its relationship to forecasting. Forecasting aims to predict what the future will look like, While planning imagines what the future could look like. Planning according to established principles, Most notably since the early 20th century, Forms a core part of many professional occupations, Particularly in fields such as management and business. Once people have developed a plan, They can measure and assess progress, Efficiency, And effectiveness. As circumstances change, Plans may need to be modified or even abandoned. In light of the popularity of the concept of planning, Some adherents in the idea advocate planning for unplannable eventualities. Planning has been modeled in terms of intentions, Deciding what tasks one might wish to do, Tenacity, Continuing towards a goal in the face of difficulty, And flexibility, Adapting one's approach and response implementation. An implementation intention is a specification of behavior that an individual believes to be correlated with a goal will take place, Such as at a particular time or in a particular place. Implementation intentions are distinguished from goal intentions, Which specifies an outcome, Such as running a marathon. Planning is one of the executive functions of the brain, Encompassing the neurological processes involved in the formulation, Evaluation, And selection of a sequence of thoughts and actions to achieve a desired goal. Various studies utilizing a combination of neuropsychological, Neuropharmacological, And functional neuroimaging approaches have suggested there is a positive relationship between impaired planning ability and damage to the frontal lobe. A specific area within the mid-dorsolateral frontal cortex located in the frontal lobe has been implicated as playing an intricate role in both cognitive planning and associated executive traits such as working memory. Disruption of the neural pathways via various mechanisms, Such as traumatic brain injury, Or the effects of neurodegenerative diseases between this area of the frontal cortex and the basal ganglia, Specifically the striatum, May disrupt the processes required for normal planning function. There are a variety of neuropsychological tests which can be used to measure variance of planning ability between the subject and controls. Tower of Hanoi, A puzzle invented in 1883 by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas. There are different variations of the puzzle. The classic version consists of three rods and usually seven to nine discs of subsequently smaller size. Planning is a key component of the problem-solving skills necessary to achieve the objective, Which is to move the entire stack to another rod, Obeying the following rules. Only one disc may be moved at a time. Each move consists of taking the upper disc from one of the rods and sliding it onto another rod, On top of the other discs that may already be present on that rod. No disc may be placed on top of a smaller disc. Tower of London is another test that was developed in 1992 by Tim Shallis, Specifically to detect deficits in planning, As may occur with damage to the frontal lobe. Test participants with damage to the left anterior frontal lobe demonstrated planning deficits, I. E. Greater number of moves required for solution. Test participants with damage to the right anterior and left or right posterior areas of the frontal lobes showed no impairment. The results implicating the left anterior frontal lobes' involvement in solving the Tower of London were supported in concomitant neural imaging studies, Which also showed a reduction in regional cerebral blood flow to the left prefrontal lobe. For the number of moves, A significant negative correlation was observed for the left prefrontal area, I. E. Subjects that took more time planning their moves showed greater activation in the left prefrontal area. Patrick Montana and Bruce Charnov outline a three-step result-oriented process for planning. 1. Choosing the destination. 2. Evaluating alternative routes. 3. Deciding the specific course of the plan. In organizations, Planning can become a management process concerned with defining goals for a future direction and determining on the missions and resources to achieve those targets. To meet the goals, Managers may develop plans, Such as a business plan or a marketing plan. Planning always has a purpose. The purpose may involve the achievement of certain goals or targets, Efficient use of resources, Reducing risk, Expanding the organization and its assets, Etc. Public policies include laws, Rules, Decisions, And decrees. Public policy can be defined as efforts to tackle social issues via policymaking. A policy is crafted with a specific goal in mind in order to address a societal problem that has been prioritized by the government. Public policy planning includes environmental, Land use, Regional, Urban, And spatial planning. In many countries, The operation of a town and country planning system is often referred to as planning, And the professionals which operate the system are known as planners. It is a conscious as well as subconscious activity. It is an anticipatory decision-making process that helps in coping with complexities. It is deciding future course of action from amongst alternatives. It is a process that involves making and evaluating each set of interrelated decisions. It is selection of missions, Objectives, And translation of knowledge into action. A planned performance brings better results compared to an unplanned one. A manager's job is planning, Monitoring, And controlling. Planning and goal-setting are important traits of an organization. It is done at all levels of the organization. Planning includes the plan, The thought process, Action, And implementation. Planning gives more power over the future. Planning is deciding in advance what to do, How to do it, When to do it, And who should do it. This bridges the gap from where the organization is to where it wants to be. The planning function involves establishing goals and arranging them in logical order. An organization that plans well achieves goals faster than one that does not plan before implementation. Planning is not just a professional activity. It is a feature of everyday life, Whether for career advancement, Organizing an event, Or even just getting through a busy day. Opportunism can supplement or replace planning. Other types of planning. Automated planning and scheduling. Business plan. Central planning. Collaborative planning, Forecasting, And replenishment. Comprehensive planning. Contingency planning. Economic planning. Enterprise architecture planning. Environmental planning. Event planning. Family planning. Financial planning. Land use planning. Landscape planning. Lesson planning. Marketing plan. Maintenance. Network resource planning. Operational planning. Planning domain definition language. Regional planning. Site planning. Spatial planning. Strategic planning. Succession planning. Time management. Urban planning. Goal pursued is a process of attempting to achieve a desired future outcome. This generally follows goal setting, The process of forming these desires. Golitzer and Branstadter, 1997, Define four phases of goal pursuit as Pre-Decisional, Setting preferences between concurring wishes and desires. Pre-Actional, Promoting the initiation of goal-directed actions. Actional, Bringing goal-directed actions to a successful ending. And Post-Actional, Evaluating what has been achieved as compared to what was desired. Goal progress is a measure of advancement toward accomplishment of a goal. Perceptions of progress often impact human motivation to pursue a goal. Hull, 1932-1934, Develops the Goal Gradient Hypothesis, Which posits that motivation to accomplish a goal increases monotonically from the goal initiation state to the goal ending state. Hull develops the Goal Gradient Hypothesis when observing rats racing to receive a food reward. Using sensors to assess the rat's motion, Hull observed that the rat's level of effort increased as the proximal distance to the food reward decreased. The Goal Gradient Hypothesis has been used to predict human behavior when pursuing a goal. Applying the Goal Gradient Hypothesis to analysis of consumer rewards or loyalty programs, Marketing researchers developed the Endowed Progress Effect and Illusionary Progress Effect. First, Nunez and Dreze, 2006, Developed the Endowed Progress Effect, Which posits that endowing a consumer with some measure of artificial progress toward a given goal can subsequently increase the consumer's motivation to complete the goal. Leading to faster and higher levels of goal attainment compared to consumers who have not received an endowment. As applied to rewards or loyalty programs, Consumers with endowed progress were shown to have a higher likelihood of reward redemption compared to those not endowed, And they completed the reward task more quickly than the non-endowed. To demonstrate this effect in conjunction with a professional car wash, Nunez and Dreze, 2006, Conducted a field experiment where they distributed 300 loyalty cards to car wash patrons. For each car wash purchased, Cardholders received a stamp on their cards. Half of the cards required 10 stamps to receive the reward, A free car wash. These cards were endowed with two stamps, Therefore these patrons only required eight additional stamps to receive a free car wash. The other half of the cards were non-endowed, And patrons only required eight stamps to receive a free car wash. The authors found that the average time between car washes, I. E. Inter-purchase time for patrons with the endowed cards, Was less than the inter-purchase time for patrons with the non-endowed cards. Additionally, The redemption rate for endowed cards, I. E. Those cards completed and submitted to receive a free car wash, Was statistically higher than the redemption rate of non-endowed cards, At 34%, Compared to 19%, Respectively. Second, Kivitz, Orminski, And Zhang, 2006, Had a similar finding, The illusionary progress effect. They found evidence that providing an illusion of goal progress accelerates the rate of goal achievement, I. E. Reducing inter-visit times for a rewards program, And increases retention in the rewards program. They developed the goal distance model that asserts that investment in goal pursued is inversely proportional to the psychological distance between requirements received in pursuit of the reward, And the total number of requirements needed to achieve the reward. Benezi, Et al. , 2011, Proposes a motivation gradient for goal pursued that is contingent on perceptions of goal progress from a reference point, Either the initial state or the end state of the goal. This proposed psychophysics model of goal pursued purports that, One, When the initial state of a goal is the reference point, Motivation levels monotonically decrease as distance from the initial state increases, And two, When the end state of a goal is the reference point, Motivation levels monotonically increase as distance to the end state decreases. When proposing the U-shaped goal gradient, Benezi, Et al. , 2011, Argue that the perceived marginal value of progress when pursuing a goal is greatest at the goal initial state and the goal end state. This perception of marginal value drives motivation. Hence, Motivation is highest at the initial and end state of the goal. The psychophysics model incorporates framing effects, Asserting that the manner in which a goal is framed impacts perceptions of progress during goal pursued. Perceptions of progress subsequently impact the level of effort exerted during various steps during goal pursued. Progress measured from a goal's initial state is referred to as a to-date frame, And progress measured from a goal's end state is referred to as a to-go frame. In an experiment run with undergraduate student participants, Benezi, Et al. , 2011, Gave participants $15 to donate to a charity with a goal of $300 total donations. Participants were put into two groups, A to-date group and a to-go group. In the to-date condition, Money that the charity had collected toward its goal was framed as money already collected. In the to-go condition, Progress in reaching the $300 goal was framed as money left to collect to reach the goal. Consistent with the psychophysics model, Benezi, Et al. , 2011, Found that the rate of donations by participants in the to-date group was highest during the early stages of the goal, And the rate of donations by participants in the to-go group was highest during the late stages of the goal.
5.0 (41)
Beth
April 14, 2025
My goal was to fall asleep fast and this helped! 😁😁 Thanks Benjamin!! 😊
Mimi
April 9, 2025
Wow - Goal met! A+ work on that one, Benjamin - it was incredibly boring and put me right to sleep....,which possibly explains why I am an underachiever. 🤣
