VANDERBILT / U. VIRGINIA (US) — People who set goals and stick to them often share specific traits—and are driven by a set of key motivators—research shows.
“People in contemporary economies seem to know that they should ‘think long term,’ when in fact they base their choices and behaviors primarily or even solely on short-term considerations,” writes co-author Bruce Barry, a management and sociology professor at Vanderbilt University, in a forthcoming paper for the Journal of Organizational Behavior.
Barry and co-author Thomas Bateman, of the University of Virginia, say that long-term thinking is especially hard in American businesses because businesses are often pressed toward short-term success, even if that impedes on long-term planning or goals.
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There isn’t much research out there to help business leaders with long-term goals, the researchers note.
“The motivational psychology behind long-term pursuits is markedly understudied. We seek to begin filling that gap.”
Professionals who are able to sustain the long-term pursuit of their work goals begin by focusing on a specific goal, expending some initial effort, and showing perseverance over the short term.
But then, these professionals enter “a complex set of cognitive and affective phenomena that implicate perceptions of self, the future, task activities, and a variety of other gratifications,” Barry and Bateman write.
The goal-setters
To understand the psychological forces at play when pursuing long-term goals, the co-authors identified and conducted in-depth interviews with 25 professionals in fields ranging from medical research to astronomy to Wall Street hedge funds. All the respondents’ work goals included the following traits:
- Eventual success could take years, or perhaps generations
- Real progress comes very slowly
- There is a significant chance of failure
While these conditions may define the most extreme cases of pursuing long-term goals, Barry and Bateman say the insights generated from the interviews have wide-reaching implications for both professionals and managers.
The researchers then distilled the key elements of the interviews into eight key sources of motivation that provide “psychological sustenance” in the pursuit of long-terms goals.
8 key motivators
- Allegory: Figurative representations or abstractions that offer significant, consequential meaning. (e.g., comparisons to the Wright Brothers or the moon landing.)
- Futurity: Allusions to the long-term impact and possibilities associated with the ultimate outcomes that may result from the realization of a long-term goal. (e.g., setting the stage for my children and grandchildren.)
- Self: Statements that invoke personal identity, reputation, or personal belief systems. (e.g., expressing my personal creativity.)
- Singularity: References to the perceived uniqueness of the endeavor. (e.g., the big exploration that nobody could have done before.)
- Knowledge: Statements that refer to skill development, new understanding, acquiring truth, and finding ways to control events. (e.g., any knowledge that’s created is good.)
- The Work: Allusions to the nature of the work, including challenges, methods, risks, and uncertainties, as well as elements that are fun or surprising. (e.g., it’s like a puzzle that you’re solving.)
- Embeddedness: Ways in which individuals see their work situated within social contexts, as well as ways in which their work garners social legitimacy within their professions and in society. (e.g., an enjoyment from disproving the skeptics.)
- Progress: Statements that emphasize the notion of forward movement, often short term, in the direction of long-term goal pursuit. (e.g., advancements in tools and techniques that facilitate the work.)
Embrace failure
In addition, all the subjects interviewed for this study mentioned the key role self-regulation plays in guiding one’s progress and dealing with changes in circumstances.
“Effective self-regulation is associated with physical and psychological well-being, as well as better job performance,” Barry and Bateman write.
The co-authors highlight multiple forms of self-regulation that include maintaining focus on goal-directed actions, controlling emotions, coping with failure, and using failure as a basis for improvement rather than a setback.
While the sample size may have been limited, with no means to compare similar data sets, Barry and Bateman write that the study is meant to offer meaningful conceptual extensions to well-established theoretical areas, setting the stage for future investigations.
“Long-term goals arguably are at least as important as short-term goals in their ultimate consequences for individuals, organizations, and societies,” Barry and Bateman write. “Now is the time to expand our field’s search for theories and strategies that can help people and organizations pursue and achieve important long-term goals.”
Source: Vanderbilt University
