How to set a goal more effectively

Scientific litsketch on boosting motivation

Many people set goals to achieve their self interests like getting a better job, a better house, a better car, a better grade or recognition from others. But research shows that rather than setting these self-benefiting goals, setting a goal that benefits others is more effective in increasingg our effort and motivation to work hard (Yeager et al., 2014). For example, setting a goal that is about serving others, helping others, making a positive impact on the world, improving and contributing to society, or doing something that matters for the world significantly increases your ability to work hard to achieve the goal.

In an experiment, people were divided into two groups. Group One was asked to think about how to make the world a better place. They were presented with survey findings that most students are motivated to gain skills that can benefit others, and were asked to write about how learning can help them make a positive impact on other people. Group Two was asked to write about how high school was different from middle school.

Later, the first group that was asked to write about goals that benefit others performed much better in academic tests than Group Two. Also, people who previously had a bad academic performance benefited significantly more from the exercise of writing about goals that benefit others. 

If you feel frustrated about not having the motivation or the energy to keep working on achieving your goal, redefine your goal to be about helping others and making a positive impact on the world. For example, if your goal was to get a better grade, redefine the goal to "learn to make a positive contribution to the world".

Rather than trying to achieve greater success in life, make your goal about improving the lives of others. When you switch your mindset to focus on serving the interests of others and to “love your neighbour as yourself” through your work, you will experience the power of your effort increasing.

Yeager, David S., et al. "Boring but important: A self-transcendent purpose for learning fosters academic self-regulation." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 107.4 (2014): 559.