Become An Achiever

Suppose you’re determined to get in shape, so you decide to do 25 sit-ups a day. That’s great—until one day you’re beat and barely manage to do 20. So you give yourself grief for blowing it—then veg out in front of the TV with a bowl of ice cream for consolation. But what if instead you promised yourself you’ll crunch between 20 and 30 sit-ups a day? Then you can pat yourself on the back for a job well-done—even if you still plan to do better tomorrow.

There’s something to being less specific, allowing for some gray area. That’s not the kind of advice you hear very often—but it may be just what you need. Goal-setting is a powerful tool, but a double-edged one, says Arul Mishra, who looks at decision-making processes in her marketing classes at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. A target can rev you up for success—but if you fall short, so may your motivation.

We guess you could set your sights lower, of course, but that would be a cop-out. What works: benchmarks that are a little vague, and bigger than a bull’s-eye. It allows you to be, well, human. “After all,” Arul points out, “the larger the target you have to aim at, the more likely you are to hit it.” Gold stars for everyone!

—Arul Mishra is a professor of marketing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.