For many of us, the New Year represents a fresh start and an opportunity to improve ourselves through intentional goal-setting. Unfortunately, most people fail to stick with our goals long enough to reach them. In fact, a Forbes Health/One Poll survey found that only about 6% of people stay committed to their New Year’s goal.
But why? Why is it so hard to stay committed? Do we need more discipline, better systems, more accountability or is it just the absence of plain ‘ol grit?
Each of these are ingredients for success, but I believe there’s something else sabotaging our efforts before we even begin. A culprit that has woven itself into our way of thinking and thus goal setting. I believe the silent assassin of our dreams is our goal orientation.
Goal orientation is a concept developed by psychologist Edwin Locke in his Goal Setting Theory. Within his theory, Locke distinguishes between two primary goal orientations that impact an individual's approach to goal setting and achievement – performance orientation and mastery orientation.
Those of us with a strong performance orientation are primarily concerned with demonstrating and validating our competence. We seek to outperform others, receive positive evaluations and prove our abilities in comparison to peers. Performance oriented individuals often link success to social comparison and external validation, leading to a focus on achieving favorable outcomes and avoiding failure.
On the other hand, people with a mastery orientation are driven by a desire to develop new skills, acquire knowledge and expand their understanding. They often view challenges and setbacks as opportunities for growth and learning while emphasizing personal improvement and mastery over outperforming others. In short, these individuals care more about their craft, journey and experience than how they look or compare to others.
Although both goal orientations are present in our society, our culture’s emphasis on competition and results has taught many of us to engage with our goals through a performance oriented lens.
I’m no different.
The majority of the goals in my adult life have been short lived, performance based ones. As I reflected upon this, I also realized that my most notable achievements came from a desire for mastery. One such occurrence came within one of the most competitive arenas in our society – sports.
When I was in 9th grade I made it my goal to play college basketball. Looking back, I can objectively say this was a wild goal for a then 14 year old me to set based on some key situational factors.
The first was my height. The average college player is about 6’4. I was 5’6 at most. Next were the odds. Only about 3% of high school basketball players go on to play in college. I was barely good enough to make my JV team that year. Finally, there was my lack of experience. My dad hadn’t grown up playing ball and I’d only begun three years prior so neither of us had any experiential knowledge of the process. And yet, despite all of this, my goal remained unchanged.
I still wanted to play college basketball because I loved the game. I wanted to continue to learn and test myself. I wanted to see how good I could become. So, driven by my desire to master my craft, I worked. A lot. Eventually, that work turned into a college scholarship and the realization of my dream.
Some of us can grit our teeth and truck along until we’ve reached our destination. I’m not one of those people. Yes, I was disciplined, resilient, strategic and intentional while pursuing my dream but those were byproducts of my love not the source of my effort or what kept me going.
Reflection:
Are my goals performance or mastery oriented?
Do my goals align with my authentic desires?
Am I more motivated by the growth pursuing my goal(s) will produce or the outcome of my pursuit?
New to Being and Becoming?
Here’s a quick, nitty-gritty post on why I started a newsletter.