Another Goal Bites the Dust

If you have a complex relationship with goal setting, you stand in very good company.  According to a study on New Year's resolutions by Statistic Brain, only 45 percent of Americans usually set New Year's goals, and 38 percent never do. Of those who did set goals, only 75 percent made it through the first week.

What is it about goals that so few set them, and those who do, so few keep them?

In a study by researchers Tonglin Jiang and Constantine Sedikides, the authors explore several hypotheses, one of them being that awe motivates authentic-self pursuit (yes, we are dipping back into the pool of ‘awe’).  In other words, they asked, when we experience awe, are we more likely to be in alignment with our true or genuine selves?

Here’s the bottom line: They found that those who were more disposed to feeling awe — were also more motivated to pursue goals that felt true to their authentic selves.  So, yes, awe motivates authentic-self pursuit.

One reason so many of us abandon goals is that they don’t align with our ideal vision for ourselves or our work in the world. We set goals that don’t ‘feel’ like who we truly are and/or are based on what we think we should be doing, rather than things that we want to do.

Or, we dismiss the whole idea of goal-setting because past experiences led to disappointment. We assume because we didn’t reach the goal the last time we tried; we are not going to be able to reach it this time.

To counter this, it’s important to have meaningful experiences that tap into our deep WHY and motivation that then give rise to the WHAT or goal we’re wanting to accomplish. This can then lead to the motivation necessary to figure out the HOW we plan on getting there.

We can pursue experiences of awe and wonder to tap into our authentic selves. Doing so in turn can transform that uninspired goal into something that truly motivates us to become a person, for instance, who relishes their life and invites more curiosity and care to our everyday experiences and desires.