Whenever we set a goal for ourselves that will take a while to achieve, it can feel overwhelming having to wait for a positive outcome. We can feel impatient, lose focus, and eventually momentum for meeting that goal. For example, if you were brand new to running and decided to set a goal of running a marathon, that would take months of training. If you focused on the fact that in your current state you are not able to finish even a mile, you might feel too overwhelmed to shoot for a marathon. The idea of running 26.2 miles would seem insurmountable. The training will take months and if you sit and focus on how hard it was to finish half a mile today, then you might never make it to that full marathon. Whereas, if you decided to focus instead on the feeling of elation after successfully finishing your first mile and imagined that completing your first marathon would feel fifty times as great, you could harness that positive energy, and training for the marathon would be a little easier and worth the effort. That’s why it is often better to try to focus on the outcome of a goal rather than your current reality.
Science of Motivation
Staying focused on the outcome of achieving a goal, like crossing the finish line at your first marathon, will keep you motivated throughout the long journey to get there. Why is that? Let’s take a look at some of the science behind motivation. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a big part in motivation. We use dopamine to send messages between nerve cells and WebMD goes on to explain that “it’s a big part of our unique human ability to think and plan. It helps us strive, focus, and find things interesting.” People often misconstrue dopamine as only a ‘pleasure’ neurotransmitter, but the characteristics of dopamine are also incredibly important aspects of motivation. So how do we get dopamine to work in our favor to accomplish our goals? In the article, “Your Brain on Dopamine: The Science of Motivation” the author delves into the impact dopamine can have on motivation and achieving our goals:
“Motivation happens when your dopamine spikes because you anticipate something important is about to happen. The brain can be trained to feed off of bursts of dopamine sparked by rewarding experiences. You create the dopamine environment, and the brain does the rest.”
One of the proven ways to get a dopamine boost is a results-driven mindset. We are motivated by positive outcomes and choosing to focus on an end result can help dopamine levels and motivation toward actually achieving said goal.
However, if you do have a very lofty goal that will take a long time to achieve, like running a marathon, it can be even more beneficial to break it down into smaller positive goals along the way. Let’s start with that first mile. If you are someone who has never run previously, that first mile is going to feel immensely significant. Running your first mile without stopping will be a great accomplishment on the way to your marathon. You can take that amazing feeling and think about how much more intense it will be once you have crossed the finish line after running that marathon. Hold onto that feeling and use it to push you toward meeting your other sub-goals! After a mile, you could try a 5k, then a 10k, then a half marathon, and then finally the all-important marathon. Once you are more used to the training, you can add in other types of goals for how long the runs take you, anything that keeps you excited about what you’re doing. Creating sub-goals can apply to any type of long-term goal. These steppingstones help you feel accomplished, show your progress over time, and keep you enthusiastic about the growth you’ve achieved! In turn, giving you dopamine bursts throughout the process while you hit your mini-goals on the way to your main one.
The next time you feel stuck or lose your drive to achieve a goal, try adjusting your mindset to think of yourself as having accomplished that goal. How does that make you feel? Harness that feeling, keep that positive mindset, and let it propel you toward reaching all your future goals.
