{"id":740,"date":"2010-02-17T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2010-02-17T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.noomii.com\/?p=740"},"modified":"2011-01-17T11:42:53","modified_gmt":"2011-01-17T19:42:53","slug":"why-you-dont-want-to-aim-to-crush-your-opponents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noomii.com\/blog\/?p=740","title":{"rendered":"Why You Don’t Want to Aim to Crush Your Opponents"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Winter Games are here, and the world is once again watching as athletes at the top of their respective games go for gold.<\/p>\n

And while each of the athlete\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s dedication to being the best in the world is worthy of admiration, researchers studying goal theory have given us reason to be cautious when creating such lofty goals.<\/p>\n

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That\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s because the evidence shows that, while having goals is indeed good for our general wellbeing, the types of goals we have may affect our emotional health. Specifically, some studies suggest that we are better off setting goals in which we strive to beat our personal best, rather than goals in which we compare ourselves to other people.<\/p>\n

In an article on approach goals vs avoidance goals<\/a>, I described a study by researchers at Nothwestern University who found that students who thought of their goals in approach terms had higher wellbeing scores than those who tended towards avoidance goals. In other words, we\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re better off trying to move toward a goal (e.g. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will improve my grades\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d) rather than avoiding something (e.g. \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will not fail calculus\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d).<\/p>\n

That same study, however, also described another goal-setting dimension that correlated with general wellbeing: mastery vs. performance goals. A performance goal is one in which your progress is measured against someone else, while a mastery goal is one where your progress is measured against yourself.<\/p>\n

Examples of mastery goals would be things like \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will beat my personal best time in track and field\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will lose 20 pounds\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d, or \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will increase my sales revenue by 20%\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d. Examples of performance goals would be \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will be the top performer this month on the sales team\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d, \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will weigh less than my sister\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d, or \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cI will win the gold medal\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Olympic athletes competing for gold, it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s exactly these kinds of performance goals – ones that pit themselves against others \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153 that the Northwestern researchers found were associated with lower levels of physical and emotional health than mastery goals.<\/p>\n

So the bottom line for coaches of non-Olympians (which, let\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s face it, is most of us) is clear – get your clients to focus on improving themselves rather than comparing themselves with others if they want to be healthier and happier!<\/p>\n

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