The Good Life Campaign: Aiming High: Accomplishments and Goals

‘After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.’

Nelson Mandela

Like many other people that I know, I have to admit that I have always some sort of project on the go or an ambition to fulfill (and often too many at a time!). Accomplishment of personally important and meaningful long-term goals is one of the core components of mental well-being, together with positive emotions, engagement, meaning and positive relationships with other people.¹ Humans appear to have a need to strive, due to an inner drive and motivation – some of us more and some less, but we all have this need. Particularly in the veterinary profession, the number of ‘high achievers’ is relatively large. However, as much as goal pursuit can enrich our lives, it is not without its pitfalls. So today we are going to look at the accomplishment and goal pursuit in a bit more detail.

Why accomplishments are important for us:

Goal pursuit gives opportunity for developing talents and mastering new skills. It also creates dynamic interactions with other people, and is associated with meaning.^1,2
Achieving goals increases our self-esteem,^3,4 and by using our strengths during the pursuit of valued goals we increase our psychological wealth.⁵
Although we sometimes have to sacrifice short-term pleasures in order to achieve long-term goals, we often derive direct pleasure/positive emotions from the activities leading to the overall aim.^1,5 For example, my private ambition this year is to complete the Charity Challenge by writing this blog throughout the course of this year- and I am really enjoying researching and writing the posts although this leaves me with less spare time.

A little bit more about the theory of goal pursuit:

Any achievement is the product of two components: Skill and effort.¹ Skill is partially determined by your natural talent. However, even if you are not very talented in a certain area but you are prepared to dedicate a lot of time and determination into the chosen activity, you may achieve more than someone with more talent, who is not putting any effort in. Also, once you have increased your skills by training, you need less effort to accomplish certain tasks. For example, even if you are not a natural sports talent, you will find it easier to complete a 3-mile run after you have been training for some time, than at the outset. How much effort we are prepared to put into a certain goal very much depends on our motivation and self-discipline, which are in turn determined by the passion we have for the chosen aim and our persistence (= the willingness to persevere with the activity without immediate rewards and despite set-backs which may occur on the way).¹
The pursuit of an accomplishment has two components: the process of working towards the goal, and the goal itself, and we can be more process-orientated or more goal-orientated.⁵
There are two types of motivation: Extrinsic motivation means that we are pursuing an activity because of external rewards (e.g. money, or by winning the attention/admiration/praise of other people); intrinsic motivation means that we are working on something because the activity gives us direct pleasure and because we genuinely care about the end result of our activity.^2,3,6
In order for an accomplishment to contribute to our well-being, it is important to have the right balance between our skills, resources and energy, the personal importance of the goal and the difficulty of the challenge.⁵ If we perceive the goal to be too easy, we may get bored but if we perceive the goal to be too difficult to reach, we may become overly stressed and anxious.If the balance is just right, we experience ‘eustress’ which is a positive and pleasant type of stress.⁵

Potential difficulties associated with accomplishments and goal pursuit:

The ‘Top of the Hill Problem’: We are often poor predictors of what makes us happy, and how long it will make us happy for. Achieving a long-term goal does make us happy, but generally only for a relatively short time, due to the effects of hedonic adaptation, which we have already discussed in previous posts.^2,3,5 It is not unusual to fall into a smaller or bigger dip after a great achievement as the excitement wears off. Therefore we should not put an overly strong emphasis on one goal, but realize that we need to continue identifying new goals for sustained well-being.^1,2,5
Choosing an unhelpful goal:

o Unrealistic goals: Having ambitious goals is not a problem, as long as they are still within realms of reality- otherwise they can soon become a great source of frustration.²

o Defining success itself as the goal: Success (be it measured by money or fame) is not a helpful goal, particularly if it is only pursued as a proxy in order to be accepted or respected by other people. In the last post (Can Money Buy Happiness?) we already mentioned that a materialistic attitude is often associated with a lower level of well-being,^3,5 and therefore unhelpful. There is also evidence that pursuing an activity for external rewards makes us less creative.⁶ Paradoxically, this may result in a situation where success is much more likely to come if we do not pursue it as the primary goal, but if we are intrinsically motivated and have an interest in the activity itself.²

If we are overly goal-orientated and/or extrinsically motivated, we also do not tend to enjoy the process/the activity itself. This can significantly decrease our well-being, particularly if the achievement requires a lot of effort.⁵
Fear of failure: If a goal is extremely important to us or we fear that we lack the skill to achieve it, we can become highly stressed and anxious.⁵ Also, if we tend to use achievement as our main source of self-esteem, our self-worth is under threat in the event of failure so that we feel that there is more at stake.² Similar to defining success as the primary goal, excessive fear of failure and extreme perfectionism can make us ironically less successful.^2,3
‘Addiction’ to achievement: Achievement feels good. There is evidence that ‘workaholics’ and high achievers get a ‘high’ due to the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine,³ which can result in unhealthy behaviours (see below at risks to well-being).
Risks to well-being: An overly strong focus on achievement can result in poorer mental and physical health and interpersonal relationships.By constantly struggling to fulfill goals we may fully sacrifice our present well-being and drain our energy resources, which may result in chronic stress, a sense of disconnection or burnout.³

Helpful tips on goal pursuit:²

Which goals are worthwhile to strive for is a very individual choice. However, following tips may help to identify aims, which are sustainable and contribute to well-being:

Intrinsically motivated: Identify goals and activities, which are of genuine interest to you, meaningful and in-line with your values. Particularly goals and activities, which allow us to achieve personal growth, increase our competence and autonomy, or connection with other people are likely to contribute to our well-being.
Harmonious: When having multiple goals, make sure that they do not contradict each other.
Reachable and flexible: As mentioned above, there is nothing wrong with an ambitious goal but making sure that your goal is not completely out of reach avoids frustration. It is also important to know your own energy levels, and to be prepared to change your goal/ambition if necessary.
Make the most out of the process: In addition to choosing an activity you enjoy, it is also helpful to break the goal down in smaller sub-goals and daily aims. This gives you the opportunity to savour the smaller victories on the way.

How can we cope with failure:²

Learning to deal with failure in a constructive way is an essential part of goal pursuit, and one of the key characteristics of resilient people. A separate post on resilience will follow next week, so here only the most essential tips on how to increase our ability to deal with failure:

Remind yourself that accomplishment is only one part of you life, and that your well-being does not just depend on the achievement of one goal.
Be kind to yourself. Give yourself room for self-compassion but avoid self-pity: Allow yourself a limited amount of time to grief for your failed ambition, but then re-focus your effort on a new attempt or look for a different goal in life. For more information about self-compassion, see the link below.
Be prepared to learn from your mistakes, try to look at the failure as an experience and try to be grateful for the things you were able to achieve so far. History is full of examples of people who only became successful after failures and underachievement, including Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey, as you can read here: http://uk.businessinsider.com/successfulpeople who failed at first. Remember that in the long run we are generally more likely to regret the things that we have NOT done, than regretting failed attempts to reach our ambitions.
Keep connected to others, and allow them to help you.
Learn to deal with negative emotions and avoid rumination. For more information see the posts about negative emotions (see below).
Previous posts which may be helpful when dealing with failure:

o Taming Your Inner Critic- About Self-Acceptance and Self-Compassion

o Dealing with the Darker Days- Emergency Measures and Emotional Intelligence

o Dealing with the Darker Days- Increase Your Control

o Dealing with the Darker Days- Working out what to do

Conclusion:

Accomplishment can clearly be a huge contributor to a high level of well-being as long as we choose our goals wisely, are prepared to work for them and as long as we learn to deal with failed ambitions in a constructive way. It is also important to remember that we have all different energy levels and a different drive to achieve. So once again you need to decide what is right for you and not fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others.

More on this topic on the web:

There are many great talks on accomplishment, success and failure on the web, but here are two, which illustrate the key points particularly well:

The bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert talks about her unsuccessful years, the importance of doing the things you love to do, and keep climbing those hills (to speak with Nelson Mandela):

https://www.ted.com/talks/Elizabeth Gilbert: Success, failure and the drive to keep creating

Psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth explains the importance about passion and perseverance when pursuing our goals:

https://www.ted.com/talks/Angela Lee Duckworth: Grit- the power of passion and perseverance

Preview: We have touched on the concept of resilience a few times by now, which is very important for mental well-being. The next two posts are going to explore resilience and what we can learn from people, who are particularly resilient to stress and trauma.

References and further evidence-based reading:

1. Seligman MEP. Flourish: A New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being- and How to Achieve Them. Nicholas Brealey Publishing; London, UK. 2011.

2. Lyubomirsky S. The Myths of Happiness: What should make you happy but doesn’t, what shouldn’t make you happy but does. Penguin Books; New York. 2013.

3. Seppälä E. The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success. Piatkus; London, UK. 2016.

4. Seligman MEP. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life. Vintage Books; New York. 2006.

5. Diener E, Biswas-Diener R. Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth. Blackwell Publishing; Oxford, UK. 2008.
6. Pink DH. Drive: The Surprising Truth about what Motivates Us. Canongate Books; Edinburgh, UK. 2009.

If you found this information helpful, please consider supporting the campaign under Just Giving. Of course it is also great if you choose to support another charity or do a practical good deed, but it would be nice if you could let me know that you have done this because you felt inspired by this campaign. Please also feel free to share this post and let me know if you have any constructive feedback- good or bad!

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