A Mindset For Motivation

"Get It Done

By Ayelet Fishbach

(Little, Brown Spark, 285 pages, $29)

There's something profound about setting goals. From New Year's resolutions and bucket lists to annual performance objectives and half-marathon pace targets, goals help distill our dreams and aspirations into action-oriented nuggets. At their best, they motivate us to become better versions of ourselves.

The very idea of setting goals can be controversial -- especially around the New Year. But the problem isn't that we set goals; it's that we often don't know how to set the right ones or, once we do, how to go about achieving them.

Enter Ayelet Fishbach's "Get It Done: Surprising Lessons From the Science of Motivation." Ms. Fishbach is a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and an authoritative figure on the psychology of goals. Drawing on her own work and the broader social-psychology research, her book has two main objectives: to help readers set the right goals, and to offer research-based insights into how to better achieve them.

According to Ms. Fishbach, an effective goal should "pull us toward our ultimate desires, energizing us to put in the work we need to do to get there." It should be ambitious, measurable and, to the extent possible, intrinsically motivating.

Suppose you want to start exercising more. To say "I'd like to run a 5k in 30 minutes or less by June" sets a more effective goal than simply saying "I'd like to start running."

An appropriate goal also takes into account our "circumstances and abilities." As an example of "the power, at times detrimental, of holding a goal," Ms. Fishbach points to a group of mountaineers who died while trying to scale Mount Everest. Overconfidence can further push us toward objectives that are too much of a stretch. To be effective, goals should be adjusted accordingly.

Having to juggle multiple goals can be even more challenging. The author recommends writing them out -- with your broadest goals up top ("career, relationships, health and leisure") and then drilling down to subgoals and the means of achieving them. This allows you to more clearly visualize and evaluate trade-offs, to prioritize among them and, in some cases, identify "multifinal" means that help achieve multiple goals. For instance, biking "has the potential to serve many goals -- the aims to exercise more, reduce your carbon footprint, and save money."

Of course, setting goals is just the beginning. You then need to figure out how to achieve them. One important step is to ensure you have good social support. Sharing your goals with others allows them to know you better. It holds you accountable and enables loved ones to help you succeed.

"Get It Done" also looks at common barriers and gives us some tools to persist when the going gets tough. It can be helpful to "look back at what you have accomplished," or "look ahead at what you still need to do." One challenge is figuring out which strategy to use in different circumstances. To this end, Ms. Fishbach offers a set of questions at the end of each chapter for readers to reflect on. For example, when we find ourselves losing momentum, can we figure out if we're able to pay attention to our "actions in the middle" of working toward a goal, and "make them memorable so they will matter?" To shorten middles, can we "set monthly, weekly, or even shorter subgoals?"

Thinking back on the role that goals played in my own life, I can see how some of these strategies helped me. When I was in my early 20s, I started running -- I had moved to a new city, and it was a good way to explore the area and get some exercise. But it was a challenge to get started. So I signed up for a half-marathon (measurable and ambitious, yet still attainable). I told family and friends about it (for accountability) and started training with a couple of friends (which increased intrinsic motivation). The night before the event, we went out for Italian food (OK, it was Olive Garden and we ate the never-ending pasta bowl), which bundled the challenging race with an enjoyable pre-race activity. The race itself ended up being a fun challenge. Goal achieved, and in the years since, I've logged many more runs.

While carrots are good, sticks can work as well. Ms. Fishbach describes an experiment in which participants who wanted to quit smoking were able to deposit money into a bank account. Those who successfully quit would get their money back, while those who didn't would forfeit their funds to charity. A year after the initial setup, participants were 30% to 50% more likely to pass a nicotine test. Taking this idea a step further and raising the stakes, another program proposes that you donate your lost money to an "anti-charity" or otherwise support a cause that is anathema to you should you fail to reach your goal. I once bet a friend I'd win an exercise challenge. I lost, alas, and so as a Yankees fan I had to wear a Red Sox cap to Yankee Stadium. But we both got more exercise and had fun doing it.

Ultimately, goals are about much more than running a race or getting exercise. They are an integral part of our lives. Around the time I started running, the few life goals I had were too vague to be actionable. I didn't know what to do, let alone how to do it. As "Get It Done" makes clear, these were potentially avoidable mistakes. Fortunately, I learned to set goals that were better aligned with my values and that I found more intrinsically motivating (such as choosing a college major and, later, a job that I enjoy). I found ways to persist, even when things were challenging.

And I was fortunate to be surrounded by friends and mentors who provided important social support.

There will always be times when it's hard to stay motivated. In a cynical world that often says that people can't change, Ms. Fishbach offers a message of hope. She reminds us that change is possible, gives us guidance on how to get started, and provides insight into how to set better goals and achieve them. Had I read "Get It Done" when I was a struggling student, the path to where I am now might have been a lot smoother.

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Mr. Luca is the Lee J. Styslinger III associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and the co-author of "The Power of Experiments." ' [1]

1. A Mindset For Motivation
Luca, Michael. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 04 Jan 2022: A.15.