And is there any physiology or physiological changes , I should say to reflect the idea that maybe just visually focusing on the start line would actually get me more excited as opposed to make me less excited to engage in effort . There's certainly vision science that's tied up in that very first stage of of goal setting , like identifying what that goal is in the first place and taking those first steps , a lot of people's go to strategies that involve vision are are vision boards or dream boards or , you know , post it notes , right ? They're creating some sort of visual representation of what it is that they want to accomplish ?
Defining the goal can be really challenging for people . And that's a strategy that works and involves our visual experience , right ? It's not just people aren't saying like , why don't you just sit around and and imagine what you want your life to be like in 10 years , the strategy that people are suggesting is like no cut out the pictures , put it on a board and stick it by your bathroom mirror .
That's probably not surprising , but it's an important aspect of the goal setting process . Then again , Gabrielle Oten in my department has identified a third often overlooked or underappreciated stage that has to happen at that goal in the goal setting process . And that's thinking about the obstacles that stand in your way of success and that it will actually help improve motivation in the long run .
We need to break it down into more manageable goals , not just my 10 year plan for myself , but my two week plan , what , what can I accomplish in the next two weeks and the two weeks after that's going to set me on the right trajectory . That's probably not surprising to anybody who's been thinking about , how do I set goals better , you know , plan , plan , big picture , think big picture abstractly , but then also break it down more concretely . That's probably not surprising , but it's an important aspect of the goal setting process .
Where is it that I want to be in five years ? 10 days , 10 years , whatever , whatever that timeline is that they're working under the idea of vision boards or dream boards is that you like , you know , almost like a scrapbook , collect visual icons that reflect where you want to be to motivate yourself . It's a really common tactic that people use and it's not bad to do that , right ?
