21/01/2026
GOAL SETTING THOUGHTS
Goals = Favourable Outcomes. Relies on a series of actions or habits in order to attain a goal.
Goals Involve a belief in a better future. Goals are the direction you need go. Habits form the daily actions and rituals you need in order to attain your goals.
A belief in a better future, well, this involves Hope. The science of hope involves the belief in a better future, combined with agency, belief you can get there along with a plan to get you there.
Plans need to be adaptable. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Agency or self belief. Is sometimes called self-efficacy. If you want to achieve something you need to believe you can get there. You need to have a vision.
Self-belief can be built via self control, which builds confidence. Self belief relies on your own previous successes or if you are new to your journey look at other individuals and how they have achieved success and learning from those behaviours and methods you’ve seen bring success to others.
When we want to change something we will need will-power and discipline in order to do so. The key to longer term habit changes is using will power to establish rituals and habits which run on autopilot. This is sometimes called meta-programming and we can think if this as a human behaviour algorithm.
When I do this, then I do that. This will take will power and decision making out of the habit. You become what you repeatedly do. First we make out habits then our habits make us. Our habits then ultimately form part of our identity whether we want them to or not. This is sometimes called the if, then principle.
Will power is s finite resource. It can become depleted with too many input or decisions are needing to be made. It’s also depleted when we feel fatigue or low blood sugar. Lower will power can sometimes mean it’s harder to remain disciplined.
Self-control or discipline builds self belief and self-confidence. Part of self-control is learning the art of delayed gratification. This is potentially learning the need to sacrifice an immediate gratification for something of greater value in the future.
Gratification is closely related to dopamine release in the brain. Or reward. When we form new goals we need to form new rewards as part of resetting the habit loop. Starting new habits is different to stopping old habits. Forming new positive habits can help you work towards your goals. Stopping old inhibiting habits which are holding you back from success can also help you move forwards.
In order to believe you can attain a new habit. You need to have the ability to carry out the habit. You also need motivation. Plus a prompt. This is BJ fogg. Behaviour change model.
When we fail to attain a new behaviour it’s usually because one of these elements is missing, or too far away. Prompt, behaviour and reward.
The habit loop. Cue, Habit reward. Make it so easy to do it’s impossible not to do. Tiny Habits.
When we want to remove a bad habit it’s good to put space between the craving and the reward. Removing the cue, reducing your exposure.
Remove the stuff from easy access, make yourself think before you grab the snack or the phone, or the drink or the addictive substance.
Add a step or a gap between you and the behaviour.
Make yourself accountable. An online group is excellent for this purpose! Get yourself an accountability partner.
Write down all the good things about ceasing the habit. Make the habit unattractive. Write down everything which is bad about the habit.
Commit to your new behaviours. Reward yourself for sticking to them. Make a new identity associated with your new healthier habits. “That’s like me” or acting “as if” are too ways you can adopt and reinforce new behaviours and identities. After you complete the new habit. Say “that’s like me” and give yourself a little hi five.
When you slip up. We’re all human after all, Simply note the reasons why and plan out a better scenario for the next time. Win or Learn Style.
Motivation wise. Our motivation will be built on our expectancy (how likely you will get pay off from taking action) X Value (how highly you value this pay off).
We have to balance these aspects of motivation with the things which reduce motivation these are impulsivity (distraction and addiction) X Delay the time it takes to repair the rewards.
Motivation will also require good levels of energy and zest. Which means taking care of your nutrition, training, sleep, work and love aspects of your life.
So we can see here to make things motivating we need shorter term rewards, low levels of distraction combined easy wins combine well with maintaining a high value in the outcome and the process.
Valuing your new goals will help you align your vision of a different future a different version of yourself with your identity and value structure.
Some people say if you are living in line with your values. You potentially don’t need advanced goal setting strategies. Rather a series of task rituals should suffice.
If the ability to carry out a new behaviour is overwhelming you need to break it down into smaller chunks. Hence the title of the book Tiny Habits.
This leads us onto talking about the power of the compound effect. Little things done frequently enough amount to massive changes over time.
Goal spheres. Are also interesting. You might be killing it in the business space but lacking in the exercise and relationship spheres. Or vice versa. One things for sure controlling zest, energy, via sleep, exercise and diet, will enable better energy for crushing love and work goals.
Different areas of our lives will have different aspect of goal setting. For example improving sleep will have a series of strategies which might be different to improving your relationship with your partner.
For sure though once you have positive goals in the important areas of your life this can have general positive effects in all areas of your life.
Some habits are key stone habits. These have a cascade effect. Fixing one can lead to positive outcomes across other goals. A good nights sleep can help you control cravings which can lead to better food choices, improved body composition and then confidence in forming new romanic relationships or strengthening current relationships.
If you are leading groups or people or wanting to be a positive role model then being the change you want to see can be really inspiring for those around you.
Deciding what goals and new habits you want to adopt requires a few things to be in place:
Self-Awareness. Readiness to change. Measuring change.
Away from Goals. Towards Goals. Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Awareness. Around all these areas and your vision of a better future.
Where are you in the cycle of change? Ready to kick off or still pondering?
Not aware you need to change? Well maybe you are already living according to your values. X
