Have you ever made a goal you really wanted to reach, but despite your good intentions, fell short? 

I was at my annual doctor visit and the physician kindly “lectured” me on doing more exercise and avoiding fried or fatty foods. Now, “lecture” is a strong word in that she was simply giving me advice. She was trying to get me to make a change. The only problem was she wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. And the result of this direct advice did not motivate me to change anything. One reason was because I don’t eat fried and fatty foods. But the exercise is a problem. I sit in front of a computer most of the day doing my job. I have good intentions to exercise every day, but somehow I lack the motivation.

So what does work to get me off the computer and on to the elliptical?  The science of motivation gives us insights. I recently listened to a podcast with Daniel Pink, author of  Drive  and Ayelet Fishbach who has a book out called, Get it Done. Here is what Dr. Fishbach tells us based on her research as a social psychologist in terms of what helps us better achieve our goals.

1. Set better goals: Approach goals are better than avoid goals. So telling me to avoid fried foods is not as good as telling me to bump up my healthy eating. The exception she makes it that avoidance might work if the goal is urgent. But approach goals are more enticing than avoidance goals. The reason has to do with the brain. When we try to avoid something and tell ourselves we can’t do it, we tend to focus on it more and do it more. So “take a walk” (an approach goal) is better than, “stop sitting at your computer” (an avoidance goal). Think about your goals. Are they avoidance or approach?

2. Monitor your progress: OK you have your approach goal, now how do you keep motivating yourself to keep going? Monitor your progress. It will help you stay the course and increase your motivation to keep going. When you focus on progress, you build confidence to keep going. For example, “I did 2 more days of exercise this week. I am on a roll and can do 2 more.” Paying attention to progress helps you look at what you have done versus thinking about what you haven’t done.

3. Focus on the goal itself, not the means to the goal: What are you trying to achieve? Focus on that, not how you are going to get there. The reason for this is that we don’t invest in means. We don’t get excited about how we are going to achieve something. We get excited about the goal itself. So, invest in the goal.

4. Have fewer incentives to reach your goal: I know, this one sounds counterintuitive. Isn’t more, better? Apparently not because the brain gets too confused with too many incentives. We lose focus on the reason we are pursuing the goal. Same with having multiple goals at one time. It’s too much and better to simplify.

5. Reward yourself intermittently:  Intermittent rewards are more effective than rewarding yourself every time. When the reward comes at various times, you will continue to work for it. It is more exciting to get an unpredictable reward than one that is regularly established. So be spontaneous with the reward to motivate you to keep going.

6. Make your goal exciting: This one really surprised me. Excitement is more predictive for accomplishing a goal than the importance of the goal. So try to make it exciting. Change your environment to create excitement. For example, I have to find ways to exercise that I enjoy. Adding a podcast to my workout has really helped me on the elliptical.

7. Make the goal inherently valuable: This is what intrinsic motivation is -it comes from doing the thing. Intrinsic motivation is when the thing feels right to you. This provides you immediate feedback and keeps you motivated. So find reasons to achieve the goal that are personal to you. Having goal to make others happy is easy to give up.