WEBVTT - Should you raise your goals over time?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to know when it's smart to make

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<v Speaker 1>your goals more challenging and when you're best off keeping

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<v Speaker 1>them simple. Both are sometimes wise, but in general I

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<v Speaker 1>think the latter is more often the case than the former.

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<v Speaker 1>I was thinking of this when I got a letter

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<v Speaker 1>from a Before Breakfast listener who had been setting daily

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<v Speaker 1>fitness goals on his phone recently. He wrote, my phone

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<v Speaker 1>asked me to change my daily fitness goals because I

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<v Speaker 1>had been meeting them fairly frequently. This got me thinking,

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<v Speaker 1>is it better for someone to set goals that are

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<v Speaker 1>right on the cusp of being attainable and being accepting

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<v Speaker 1>of falling a little short from time to time, or

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<v Speaker 1>to set goals that should be achievable and celebrate even

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<v Speaker 1>more are when you exceed those goals. It's a good question,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's no universal right answer. I think that the

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<v Speaker 1>answer varies depending on what you're trying to do. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>many people pursue personal records or prs and races, and

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<v Speaker 1>the whole point of a PR is that once you

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<v Speaker 1>set a PR, you have to go faster to set

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<v Speaker 1>a new one. If you're recovering from an illness or injury,

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<v Speaker 1>it might make sense to raise your goals over time,

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<v Speaker 1>because something that was difficult at the beginning might be

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<v Speaker 1>really easy in a few weeks or months, and so

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<v Speaker 1>it might make sense to push yourself since you know

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<v Speaker 1>that the future will be so different from the present.

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<v Speaker 1>That said, I'm a much bigger fan of what I

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<v Speaker 1>call process goals than outcome goals. Outcome goals are things

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<v Speaker 1>like running a sub two hour half marathon, are getting

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<v Speaker 1>an A in a class, or signing up a certain

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<v Speaker 1>number of new clients for bank accounts. It's not that

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<v Speaker 1>there's anything wrong with these goals per se. It's that

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<v Speaker 1>some factor are out of your control, which can be discouraging,

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<v Speaker 1>and in certain situations, outcome goals can also skew people's incentives.

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<v Speaker 1>An A in a class is not a good in

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<v Speaker 1>its own right. It's just a letter on a piece

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<v Speaker 1>of paper. What matters is that it represents the accumulation

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<v Speaker 1>of knowledge. But when the A becomes a good in

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<v Speaker 1>its own right, people become tempted to cheat. Think of

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<v Speaker 1>school systems fudging test scores. Likewise, you can bring new

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<v Speaker 1>clients to a bank by offering a great product and

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<v Speaker 1>great customer service. Or you can invent new accounts out

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<v Speaker 1>of whole cloth and hope no one notices before the

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<v Speaker 1>bonus checks get cashed. I think we've all read the

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<v Speaker 1>headlines about that story. Process goals, on the other hand,

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<v Speaker 1>are goods in their own right. These are habits by

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<v Speaker 1>another name, and they do tend to lead to the

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<v Speaker 1>desired outcomes over time. But even if you don't meet

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<v Speaker 1>a specific outcome, you're probably better off than would be otherwise.

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<v Speaker 1>A process goal is something like my running streak, running

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<v Speaker 1>every day for at least a mile. Or if we

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<v Speaker 1>think of our academic example, rather than aiming to get

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<v Speaker 1>an A in a class, you set a goal to

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<v Speaker 1>study for at least five hours a week, And rather

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<v Speaker 1>than focus on how many new clients you land, you

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<v Speaker 1>set a goal to ask existing clients to refer people

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<v Speaker 1>to you every time you have a positive interaction. By

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<v Speaker 1>their nature, process goals tend not to benefit from raising

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<v Speaker 1>them over time. The point is to just keep doing

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<v Speaker 1>them again and again and again. By keeping them relatively simple,

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<v Speaker 1>we keep them in our lives, even when it would

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<v Speaker 1>be easier not to Most days I run a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more than one mile, and I'm always happy when I do.

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<v Speaker 1>But by keeping the mile as my goal, I don't

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<v Speaker 1>feel any resistance to it, and I don't feel like

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<v Speaker 1>a failure. On the days when I can't run much

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<v Speaker 1>more in a mile, I just keep going. So in general,

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<v Speaker 1>my thought is that unless you're really gunning for something

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<v Speaker 1>big and you're excited about a more challenging goal, it's

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<v Speaker 1>best to keep the goals simple and doable. Our listener

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<v Speaker 1>is probably better off aiming for five thousand steps a

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<v Speaker 1>day and exceeding this regularly, but still feeling good on

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<v Speaker 1>the days when he's tired or on a plane for

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<v Speaker 1>ten hours and he only hits five thousand steps, then

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<v Speaker 1>following his fitness apps directive to change his goals. Daily

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<v Speaker 1>success is motivational failure, generally, isn't. I prefer to celebrate

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<v Speaker 1>what goes right now. I know that goals are a

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<v Speaker 1>big deal in productivity circles, so I'm happy to get

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<v Speaker 1>notes from people telling me why I'm wrong and challenging

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<v Speaker 1>goals that involve a big risk of failure are the

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<v Speaker 1>way to go. You can let me know what you

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<v Speaker 1>think at before breakfast podcast at I hurt media dot com.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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<v Speaker 1>that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at I heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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