I’ve enjoyed every one of Richard Wiseman’s books – the latest being 59 Seconds.
There’s so much nonsense advice handed out in the self-help world nowadays (and it’s been made worse by *some* bloggers IMO), it drives me crazy. Books like 59 Seconds or research-based blogs like PsyBlog (who has had a bunch of posts lately dealing with personal finance) are great resources for cutting through the crap and helping us figure out what really works and what doesn’t – for most people.
According to Wiseman, here’s a list of things that DON’T work to motivate you to reach your goals:
- Focusing on someone you admire for achieving so much: eg. Steve Jobs
- Thinking about bad things that will happen if you don’t achieve your goal: eg. my former tendency of thinking I would end up sharing a bowl of Friskies with my cat some day.
- Trying to suppress unhelpful thoughts: eg. avoiding thinking about how you’ll manage to avoid shopping for Christmas.
- Relying on willpower: I used to do this a lot in the beginning but switched to changing up my environment so I didn’t need to rely on willpower as much.
- Fantasize about how great life will be when you reach your goal: my guess is a lot of people that dream about early retirement or financial independence – or just being able to chuck it all and go traveling forever do quite a bit of this? I know I certainly used to.
Here’s what DOES work according to Wiseman and the research:
- A step by step plan – have a maximum of five steps with subgoals that are objective so that you can definitively say whether you’ve hit the target or not. Give yourself a reward when you’ve reached the goal. Give yourself a target time limit. Don’t listen to those people who say that goals are terrible things to have – they just aren’t doing it right and are or were too hung up in the outcome. It’s a classic throwing out the baby with the bathwater approach.
- Tell other people about your goal – heck, even set up a whole blog about it. Your readers will keep you on the straight and narrow.
- Think about the good things that will happen by achieving your goal – remind yourself of these things on a regular basis.
- Reward yourself for making progress – but not by doing anything that conflicts with actually achieving your larger goals. Like don’t have a goal to pay off a credit card and then run out and buy a new car.
- Record your progress – use net worth calculators, those little widgets for recording debt balance pay-offs or savings goals – or, use your banking software and good old fashioned spreadsheets or journals / graphs if you’re more of a Luddite type.
I’m firming up my financial goals – and processes – for 2012 right now. Goals are something that I always tackle from a broad perspective around Christmas and have been doing that for the last 20 years – with sometimes great success and sometimes not so great. Where they didn’t work, it was because I didn’t – work at them that is. They also didn’t work where I didn’t allow for the peculiarities of my personality (of which there are many) 
, setbacks, or obstacles.
So far, it looks like it will be “the year of the mortgage payoff” – or half payoff.
I’m setting a maximum limit on savings as well since I know I can be a little too motivated weird that way. I don’t want to go to Hoarder Rehab – no no no.
Excellent overview, Jacq! It’s funny, I’m a big fan of Wiseman’s 59 Seconds as well, just wrote a blog post about it today too. Long time no talk, but we are still on the same wavelength.
Lyman Reed recently posted..Gratitude for 59 Seconds
Good post, I need to sit down with someone that’s much better at budgeting than I, in order to establish those goals.
Good thing on the Hoarder Rehab, was going to look at an intervention there!!!!
LOL, I’m not that bad! Yet…. Muah hahah Goals are good. That light at the end of the tunnel – no matter how long the tunnel is, is totally inspiring.
Otherwise? You know where I live. Bring it on.
You got a “date”. I bring it on and you can help me fix it.
Lyman! Hiya! I thought you were totally MIA and totally missed you.
I find myself upset about the recent Zenhabits type of focus. Like you, I’ve been there, done that and it did not work and it breaks my heart to see other people doing that kind of thing. Sometimes I just don’t know how to reach people.
Suggestions?
Oh – FYI – I am using a blue light therapy this winter and am feeling amazingly awesome (for no apparent reason – lol). It’s the only thing I’ve changed so… ???
That’s interesting about the light therapy… my initial response was “Oh, boy… what’s she doing” but a quick Google shows some moderate success in treating both SAD and major depressive disorder. I’m glad you’ve found something that helps!
I was MIA for a while. Doing some serious self reflection, especially regarding the whole self-help/personal development thing, and reorganizing of life. Started blogging again with a gratitude project, and it’s really gotten me into the writing again. I came across this post via Twitter… which I find ironic since if I remember correctly, you were, shall we say, a bit resistant to that?
Lyman Reed recently posted..Gratitude for 59 Seconds
LOL, I set up some kind of twitter thingy that tweets posts without me having to do anything. If X, then Y sort of thing – “twitter shit” just happens. My kinda laziness. Bada bing – bada boom!
I’m happy with the light therapy. I’ve always had *more* of a problem in winter.
But in general now, with age, I know what to watch for – if I read “too much”, if I start shying away from people, if I start to avoid reality, if I find myself wanting to ‘journal’ and focus on problems therein. These are all signs of impending depression – *for me*. I’ve never been on a medicinal protocol though, although I probably could have / should have been years ago. The black dogs have gone away using natural methods – I just wish most people could do that. But I also know how terribly hard that is when your brain is wired differently.
I like the idea of goals w/in your control–e.g. save $100, not achieve &% return on investments.
frugalscholar recently posted..Frugality and Hermes
FS, that’s EXACTLY why I’m going to focus on the mortgage this year. It’s a guaranteed return and I feel like I need one of those for awhile.
Excellent post, made me think about my blog. Maybe I should outline an action plan. I’ve never done that. I dreamed about what if… but what do I do to get to that what if? MAybe it is time to get down to oulining some steps. Loved the post!
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Aloysa, I think an action plan for a blog is a good thing. I’ve never had one myself and have just gone with inspiration alone. But I don’t think that’s a very good approach for someone who really wants to grow something or improve in an area. I did used to write almost every day at a set time when I was working, and I was certainly far more prolific – and probably a better writer as well back then. I’ve heard people say quite good things about the problogger “31 days to a better blog” approach.
I wouldn’t be able to write every day for my blog just because there are other things that I would like / have to / intend to do. I think being a successful blogger you do need to allocate A LOT of time just to blogging. So, I guess an action plan for a blog, is not quite my approach.
Aloysa recently posted..Under Beaker’s Microscope: Why I Let My Wife Shop
Me too Aloysa, I’d rather read a good novel most days than write. I think the only thing that blogging every day is helpful with is it keeps you thinking about these things and more inclined to notice topics for blog fodder. Having said that, I’m generally happier when I’m not thinking much about money, if at all. It makes me OCD-ish.
I tend to be less formulaic when it comes to life goals and progress, and make decisions based on how I feel at the time (which is totally weird because in most areas of life I’m a thinker not a feeler), so setting goals has often been something I’ve shied away from. That being said, I do see their merit, so I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate them.
The list of what doesn’t work is interesting. I was recently reading an article about a study that concluded that visualizing ourselves having reached success is actually counter productive. It makes our brains lazy and complacent.
Lindy Mint recently posted..Lessons from Holidays Past
Lindy, it’s kind of a combination where you have to visualize seeing yourself reach the goal and at the same time visualize the process and all the pitfalls you have to watch for. That’s pretty much what I did for all those years of saving. I just knew that eventually if I kept doing X, then eventually Y would have to happen.
I tend to set goals where it will matter or I can maybe speed things up by doing it. I’m probably the only person I know that never plans holidays at all. Just get in the RV and drive is my m.o.
Good advice on looking up to unlikely role models. There was a commercial on TV sometime ago (I forget what product it was for — good marketing, huh?) where the one memorable line was: “You’re not that guy”. Sure, your buddy plays indoor soccer until he’s sixty-five, but you’re not that guy. Sure, your online hero has a great podcast with a cool intro, but if your voice sounds like a pair of mating monkeys, you’re not that guy.
101 Centavos recently posted..(almost) Live from Sao Paulo – random notes
Absolutely Andrew! LOL, you made me google for it – it’s Helzberg Diamonds with “that guy” painting his girl’s toenails.
Maybe there’s a lot of this kind of thinking in the PF world, not with bloggers as much as people who don’t blog about PF. That occurred to me when reading the responses to the latest GRS reader story on balance. Doesn’t mean you can’t reach your goals sometimes, it just might mean you will go slower or have to change the way you do things. Or downgrade your goal.
Yes, that’s the one!
I was also thinking of that excruciatingly painful podcast with Penelope Trunk you linked to a while back. The podcaster kept referring to his online role models, but she kept saying….. You’re not that guy.
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The whole “living the dream full time blogging” wave has to be one of the most bizarre and annoying phenomenons I’ve ever seen. It makes people do very dumb, impractical things in the quest to become the next Tim Ferriss. Oh well, just shows there’s a lot of room at the top out there for not quite so glamorous jobs where you just have to show up and bust your butt every day.
Nice post as usual.
I am intrigued by the use of “Hoarder” in the same sentence as “saving”. If you’re happy with your spending and meeting your “needs”, is it really bad to be hoarding money?? Or did I misread it totally (not that I haven’t been known to do that from time to time
)
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JA, generally I think that’s true for most people. I however, (for some unknown reason) don’t always spend where I really would be able to “buy some happiness” / convenience, etc.
Sometimes I do have to literally push myself to spend – eg. housecleaners, paying people to do renovation projects for me instead of convincing myself to DIY things, new furniture that really would make me happy to have because I’ll convince myself that mine is “good enough”. So in that sense, sure I meet my needs, but am not always “happy” with my spending.
I’m just one of those people I guess that needs a “spending plan” more than a “don’t spend” budget because my tendency is towards over-frugality. It gets annoying.
If you have trouble getting rid of your money … I am happy to help out
I will gladly take it off your hands so that you don’t feel annoyed at yourself.
JA recently posted..Costco
LOL – I know, it’s a stupid problem to have and I’m working diligently at it.
Traveling makes it disappear at a pretty rapid pace though.