Approaching success, avoiding the undesired: Does goal type matter?

Approach-oriented goals involve reaching or maintaining desired outcomes. Avoidance goals focus on avoiding or eliminating undesired outcomes. Although both types of goals are common in our lives and both are functional, one goal-type is associated with more happiness than the other. There is something about procrastination, too.

 

Almost anything can be framed as an approach or avoidance goal. For example, could frame an approach goal as "make my house sparkle" (because I like it that way), or "vacuum, dust and scrub the floors today" (to avoid being criticized again). I could head to the gym "to stay strong and fit", or "to avoid heart disease".

 

Andrew Elliot and Ken Sheldon have pioneered a great deal of research about approach and avoidance goals. Their research indicates that the pursuit of a greater number of avoidance goals is related to:

 

• less satisfaction with progress and more negative feelings about progress with personal goals,
• decreased self-esteem, personal control and vitality,
• less satisfaction with life, and
• feeling less ompetent in relation to goal pursuits.

It seems obvious that avoidance goals are not the goals on which we make a great deal of progress, and they don't lead us to a "happy place". In fact, Matt Dann and Thmothy A. Pychyl think avoidance goals are more likely to be related to procrastination.

 

The key lesson from the approach-avoidance motivation literature is that one might benefit by re-framing the goal. Rather than thinking of avoiding the bad outcomes, one could think about the aspect of the goal as reaching or maintaining positive something. Certainly, anything I can do to reduce the avoidance goals in my life wouldn't hurt.

 

Approaches to reduce procrastination:

• Work at re-framing the goal from avoidance to approach
• Make an implementation intention to act on a specific day at a specific time
• Focus on the positive and the progress I make with each small step
• Don't give in to feel good (give up until another day) when a particularly difficult obstacle makes the task difficult
• Just get started, once we started on a task, our perceptions of the task change. Sometimes we may end up enjoying, making even a little progress on our tasks boosts our well being which in turns fuels more motivation to work
• Expect that when you face an unwanted or undesirable task, you'll have lots of negative emotions. Just suck it up, don't give in to feel good, keep focus on long-term progress on your goal. Once get through these, there's no looking back
• Be honest with yourself. Don't justify or rationalize procrastination. It's self-deception. Recognize these thoughts as a signal that you desire to procrastinate.