Help Young Minds

Don't be distracted by the title. This isn't a post to preach how we should all become a better version of ourselves just because it's the new year, but it's a reminder that we can feel happier by finding ways to reach our goals in a sustainable way and with the pandemic taking so much from us, don’t we deserve to give ourselves something this year?

With every new year - even if you're trying to avoid the fact that, yes, it's 2022 - it's not long before someone asks the same age-old question: "Do you have any New Year's Resolutions?" Some people can proudly say they have new goals, but most of us reply with the same answer we made for ourselves last year. If it's because it's a sustainable, long-term goal, then good for you! Though, chances are it's because we didn't hit our goals at all.

Even as high school students, we all have goals for ourselves, and although they might be easy to make, they're not always so simple to complete or even start. So whatever journey you're on, and you're feeling discouraged because you couldn't meet your goals, don't give up on your mission. Just realize that you have to change your process. There are many different approaches to help us pursue our long-term goals and while some are better than others, feel free to pick and choose what you can take from this.

To be a Goal or to not be a Goal

That is the question, isn't it? Before we do anything, close your eyes and picture your goal - just picture it. Well, actually, you need your eyes open to read, but just picture it: that's your goal. Goals are not all created equal, and they can actually have a significant effect on how we tackle them and how well we can tackle them.

While I'm trying to make this as entertaining as I can without sounding like a textbook (because we already get enough of that with online learning), there has to be a little bit of science, so I'm sorry to all the science haters. There are two main categories of goals: approach vs avoidance goals and performance vs mastery goals. If you can recognize what kind of goal you have, you might give yourself a better chance at achieving it. When we want to develop skills, these are called mastery goals, and when we want to achieve a certain standard compared to others, these are called performance goals. While they both have the same amount of motivation, the two are very different. Mastery goals are geared towards long-term goals, whereas performance goals are only helpful in the short term. In performance goals, we measure our abilities as setbacks and feel as though what we are achieving is inadequate, but with mastery goals, we look at setbacks as ways to learn to improve our skills. With mastery goals, we tend to be more motivated and successful in achieving our goals. [8]

While many goals are oriented towards securing a desired outcome like approach goals, some also are geared towards avoiding unwanted consequences like avoidance goals. In the long-term, approach goals are a lot more effective than avoidance goals, so maybe try reframing your avoidance goals into an approach goal if you have one [6]. For example, your goal may be to "avoid procrastinating homework," which can be transformed into "do homework for one hour."

Avoidance goals tend to leave us feeling stressed out and with unpleasant feelings that can be highly motivating and incredibly draining, that in the long run, it's not worth it at all.

Make SMART Goals

The first step to reaching a goal is making a goal. You might think that it's pretty straightforward. It is, but before you go and close the page, declaring that everything on here is redundant, take a second to think if your goal is 'SMART.' Now, I can't stand acronyms, even if they're painfully helpful. Still, even I have to concede and say that' SMART' is pretty good. Think of it as the 'ROYGBIV' of goals, but better because it makes sense. To achieve our goals, we need our goals to be well-defined [3]. You can't spin in circles, close your eyes, take a shot from 20 feet away and still expect that you'll make it in net (unless you're one of those teenagers on TikTok who make trick shots with a basketball off the roof of a house). Isn't it better to set yourself up with the highest chance of success? A 'SMART' goal should be:

Specific - What are the who, what, when, where, why, and how's? What is the outcome you want? What will you do to achieve it?

Measurable - How will you monitor your progress, and how do you know when you've met your goal?

Achievable - can you actually do this? Do you have all the resources and skills to do this?

Relevant - How important is it to you? Is it appropriate for your overarching goal?

Time-bound - Set mini-deadlines or big deadlines. What is your time frame to achieve this? [2]

If you have a goal already, see if you can make it 'SMART'er. Done correctly, SMART goals make the distance to get to your goals a little shorter and the path to it a lot clearer.

Maintaining Motivation

Now that you have made yourself a goal, you probably want to jump on it right away and for a few days, you manage to keep up with it. It's great when we have that initial motivation when it seems like we could go on forever, but it's easy to lose sight of our goals when we lose that motivation. Motivation goes hand in hand with self-efficacy or how much we believe in ourselves [4]. When we don't believe that we can do something, we can feel that any effort we put in is futile. The more we believe in ourselves, the more that we are intrinsically motivated to invest time and energy towards our goals, but there's more to it. Our intrinsic motivation works best when our goals align with our values [4]. If your SMART goal is to volunteer weekly, then it might align with your core values that we should serve a common good, which might help you stay intrinsically motivated over the long term. Motivation doesn't have to be only intrinsic. It can also be extrinsic by using rewards. Neither one is better than the other, however. When we are rewarded for our efforts, we tend to take on secondary reward properties where we begin to naturally enjoy the experience of expending effort [4]. If the rewards equal the level of effort we are putting in, this creates a sense of equity that helps us maintain motivation [4]. Nobody wants to put in a lot of input and have nothing in return. That's like making a sandwich only to have it pop out of existence just before you eat it (how cruel is that?). When our input-output ratio isn't in equity, this crushes our motivation and causes us to feel discouraged. So give yourself rewards if you need to, and they can be in any shape or form, like watching an episode of that show you wanted to watch, getting a snack, texting a friend, or spending your life savings to go to the space hotel, I won't judge. [5]

Self-Efficacy ​

What can we do about self-efficacy, though? You'd be surprised by how much our goals are influenced by our expectations and our confidence in our abilities [1]. When we believe in ourselves and our capacity to attain our goals, this strongly influences the power we have to face our challenges. Now, this isn't a sign to suddenly become full-of-yourself and so smug that everything you do must be perfect by nature, but a reminder that how we perceive ourselves sometimes can be one of the biggest things holding us back. Look into how you're thinking and if you're telling yourself that you'll likely fail, but are still trying to achieve your goals anyway, stop that. Tell yourself that you can because chances are, you can. If you're lacking in self-confidence, though, don't give up hope! We can gain confidence by achieving modest goals, observing similar people (I'm not talking about billionaires who have all the time in the world or social media influencers who built a brand for themselves - that is, unless you are one, then go right ahead) successfully achieve their goals, or being told positive affirmations by friends and family. [1]

Be Flexible

Goals are meant to improve our lives. We're supposed to feel fulfilled by achieving them, but chasing our goals, even those we need to accomplish, should never come at the cost of our overall happiness. Sometimes, we can't make progress due to unforeseen circumstances, and that's okay. If we're rigid with our goals and can't achieve them, then all we'll be left with is no progress and feelings of disappointment and inadequacy. Our resources are limited, so sometimes, we need to mobilize our efforts to devote ourselves to other things rather than make progress towards our goals. [10] Allow yourself some flexibility to make adjustments: feel comfortable changing your goals to match your current resources. Otherwise, you're just trying to fit a cube into a circular hole, and we're making it so much harder than it has to be.

If you want to make a change, then chase after it. Setting goals and planning for the future help us on our journey to being happier. This year, don’t set limits for yourself. You might not be where you want to be, but the only thing stopping you from getting there is “yet.”

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235675661_Self-management_and_behaviour_change_Theoretical_models

[2] https://absel-ojs-ttu.tdl.org/absel/index.php/absel/article/view/90

[3] https://inside.ewu.edu/calelearning/psychological-skills/goal-setting/

[4] https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1233&=&context=mgmt_papers&=&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fscholar.google.ca%252Fscholar%253Fq%253Dmaintain%252Bmotivation%252Bpsychology%252Bjournal%2526hl%253Den%2526as_sdt%253D0%2526as_vis%253D1%2526oi%253Dscholart#search=%22maintain%20motivation%20psychology%20journal%22

[5] https://www.dovepress.com/motivational-factors-for-initiating-implementing-and-maintaining-physi-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-PPA

[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23646832/

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7725288/

[8] https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2018/06/motivation

[9] https://www.wellbeingpeople.com/2021/09/09/the-benefits-of-flexible-goal-setting/

[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6682663/