Goal Theory and Affirmations for Radical Success
Goal Theory, Affirmations and Success Success!
The difference that a statement can make in the life of a man, woman, or child is nothing short of phenomenal.
Change your mind - change your life!
Goal Theory.
Goal theory has nothing to do with scoring points in a game. It has a lot to do with scoring points in life. It has to do with scoring points in your career and it has to do with scoring points in your personal life. Goal setting theory is all about studying what motivates a person to accomplish anything whether great or small. The principles of goal setting theory apply to any sort of achievement. The idea is that if you can grasp goal setting theory you will be well on your way to attaining the things you want to attain in life.
In goal theory there are three main hypotheses that are seen to determine individual motivation
The way an individual regards goal setting and goal achieving behaviour is related to how the individual determines a successful result.
Some individuals have a view of their result that focuses on improving performance in relation past achievement. These people do not compare themselves or their performance to others. As a result of this orientation, they tend to have better work habits, they have a greater level of tenacity to get the job done and have more motivation because the factors that determine the result are within their control.
Other individuals view the results they attain in relation to the results that others attain. This means that what determines the end result is outside themselves and outside of their control. This will result in weak attitudes where giving up becomes an easy and reasonable out. They also tend to select tasks and goals that are easy to achieve.
Goal Theory and Goal Achieving Behaviour
People who rate their success based on how well they have mastered the task or whether or not they have improved personally are 'task oriented'. A good example of this would be athletes who are first and foremost focused on technical form and completion time. This is task orientation. The opposite case are athletes who rate their success by comparing themselves and the results they get to other athletes. These athletes are more concerned with beating the competition without regard to time or technique. This is 'ego orientation'.
Our thinking and our behaviour are always in anticipation of a response.
- Deepak Chopra
Researchers are not certain which form of goal achieving behaviour is better in terms of goal setting theory. The majority of studies lean towards the position that task orientation will lead to better, more positive behaviour in terms of goal achievement.
Goal setting is a powerful way of motivating one's self or others to get a given task accomplished. However, if people have an 'ego orientation' when it comes to goal theory, goal achievement, and goal setting, there may be issues with more difficult and complex goals. Ego oriented people may have developed the habit of picking easy and simple goals because they see the results as being out of their control.
Dr E. Locke and Goal Theory
Dr. Locke discovered that in his studies people are motivated by clear goals and appropriate feedback. He also stated that working towards a goal provided a powerful source of motivation which, in turn, improved goal achieving behaviours. Locke's research showed that there was a direct correlation between the difficulty and specificity of a goal and people's task attaining behaviour. In short, he discovered that difficult and clearly stated goals led to better performance than easy and vague goals.
Even ego oriented people can be motivated to perform well if they believe that they can rise to the challenge and that they have the ability to accomplish what they need to.
Dr. Locke teamed up with Dr. G Latham in the `90's and published "A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance." This book has become the benchmark in goal theory.
Five Principles of Goal Theory
In their book Dr. Locke and Dr. Latham proposed that there are five principles that determine how motivating a goal will be:
- Clarity.
- Challenge.
- Commitment.
- Feedback.
- Task complexity.
Goal Theory and Success
Thanks to the work of Dr. Locke and Dr. Latham most people today recognize how important goal setting is to success in life. A clear grasp on goal theory will give you the ability to apply the principles of goal setting effectively to your own personal, and vocational goals. It can help you set goals for team mates at work or for your children. SMART goal setting is useful in al aspects of life. If you use the simple rules of goal theory your goal setting will be much more productive and your performance will improve.
Goal theory is great but getting the principles and beliefs surrounding goal theory locked into your mind so that they become a part of who you are is a difficult task unless you know the secret to programming your mind with goal theory principles. Here at AFRS we are dedicated to providing the information you need to program your mind to become a goal achieving machine.
