Instant Genius - Healthy Start: How to make goals and stick to them

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

This time of the year lots of us will be setting new goals for the future. Be it getting fitter, reading more or even writing that novel we always suspected we had in us. But why do so many of us fail to see these plans through? In this episode, we catch up Dr Ian Taylor a reader in motivational science based at Loughborough University. He tells us why we are prone to setting goals that are too ambitious and why starting small is usually the best approach, why we shouldn’t worry if our routine drops off now and again, and why simply having willpower isn’t the be all and end all of reaching your targets, whatever they are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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talking about the most fascinating ideas in science and technology today. I'm Jason Goodyear, commissioning editor, BBC Science Focus. This time of the year, lots of us will be setting new goals for the future, be it getting fitter, reading more, or maybe even writing that novel we always suspected we had in us. But why do so many of us fail to see these plans through? In this episode, we catch up with Dr. Ian Taylor, a reader in motivational science based at Loughborough University. He tells us what we're prone to setting goals that are too ambitious

and why starting small is usually the best approach, why we shouldn't worry if our routine drops off now and again, and why simply having willpower isn't the be-all and end-all of reaching your targets, whatever they are. Welcome to the podcast. Thanks very much for joining us. Thanks for having me. This time of year, many of us will be trying to set goals for the future. So how do actually get started with this? Yeah, it's a good question because a lot of people know about goal setting and there's things like smart goals, which a lot of people are aware of, you know, specific measurable, etc., etc.

But that hasn't seemed to have helped much over the year. You know, if you think about New Year's resolutions, people set goals and millions of them fail within a couple of weeks. So, you know, we need to rethink how we approach our goals. And one of the easiest or one of the most straightforward things to think about is goals is people set too large a goal. For example, if we talk about exercise goals, for example, people are going to go out for a, going to say, right, I'm going to run 5K or do the couch to 5K and stuff. And then they start with, okay, I'll just start with a small goal of one kilometer.

That is still a huge amount of effort. That's still too big a goal. I always think about Lao Z, and I've probably butchered the pronunciation there, but he coined the Chinese proverb a thousand mile journey begins with a single step. Okay. And if you think about the difference in size between a thousand mile journey and a single step, that's the size of goals that you need to be setting. These really, really micro goals.

So, for example, if your long-term vision is to run a 5K, for example, then your first goal, if you're not really an exercising type person, then your first exercise goal would probably be set foot out of the door, that would be a small goal, okay? And even if that's still too, if you see yourself not doing that, you set that goal and you still don't achieve that goal,

then rein it back even forward. Okay, let's put my trainers next to the door. Okay. And then those sorts of micro goals, then start momentum. The reason I think micro goals are really effective is because we don't typically like effort. So effort is key. Now there's some quite interesting evolutionary stuff about effort

that were designed to avoid wasting effort unless it's really, really life enhancing. Okay. Whereas now we've developed a society of the last 200 years that actually we need to start using effort in most instances, but our brains are designed to save effort. Okay. So we need to break down the effort to as low as possible, okay, to get the ball rolling. So these real micro goals. And they do sound a bit silly. You know, the goal is to put your trainers by the door if you're going to go for a jog. But we need to really, really think about lowering effort. So I think that's the first thing I would talk about goals, exercise goals in that example, but they could be applied to any other goal. So how about motivation? This is clearly a big driver for goal setting.

I guess some people are naturally more motivated than others. So what can the lazy people among us, like me to be honest, do about this? Well, Motivation is an interesting concept because people think it's this sort of singular thing. I am motivated or I'm not, whereas motivation is probably more accurately a network of different processes in the brain. One of the things that I think are most important is when people keep failing in their goals or they think they're lazy, as you've just said, what I would probably say is you're accessing the wrong type of motivation rather than you're not motivated. A good example of that is willpower. Now, there's this concept of willpower that you need bucket loads of willpower to maintain

any goal or any activity, which is nonsense. Willpower is not an effective type of motivation. Now, the problem is that I'm going to take exercise goals again, but it can be applied to anything, is that if you're not that exercising, if it's not part of your character, you're going to perhaps rely on willpower too much, you haven't got other motives, okay? What willpower's designed to do is to occasionally break to balance between sort of instant gratification, instant desires and long-term goals. It's not designed to be robust. It's designed to break every now and again. And yet we want it to be robust. And we again, we've created this society where

temptations, if you're dieting, there's a million and one temptations as you walk down the high street, If you want to exercise, there's a million and one temptations for not to exercise. So we're not designed. So willpower is designed as an emergency in times of need, not to be relied on or sustained on. So one of the key takeaways is if you're feeling like you need to use willpower and it's an effort to diet or get off the sofa, then you're using the wrong type of motivation. You need to take alternative, try and develop alternative sources. So you mention micro goals.

You often hear experts recommend setting goals over different time periods like short-term, medium-term and long-term. Can that approach help? Yes, but they have different roles. You know, a long-term goal is to dream, to excite, okay? But you need those really, really short-term, easy goals to motivate you on a daily basis. Okay. So having a goal of running a marathon in a year's time, okay, right, that's brilliant. Excellent. But that's not going to motivate you on a daily basis to go out running. It's the short, easy term goals that motivate you on a daily basis. Another aspect of that is there's a general principle where the more immediate the reward or outcome or goal success is, the more motivating it is.

okay so that's why weight loss is not a good motivator at all okay so losing whatever 20 pounds in six months for a summer wedding okay that's the target but that is not very motivating because let's say if you want to lose 20 pounds okay you do some exercise you won't have lost any weight you won't have made any progress toward that goal the brain needs some reward for it to motivate again so you need an immediate benefit. So you've got your lose 20 pounds or whatever goal, but you need a more immediate outcome when you're exercising or dieting or losing weight or however you're losing weight. You need a more immediate outcome. And that then tells the brain, oh, what I've just done is good. Okay. I'll do it again. I'll do it again. And then eventually over time, because of those immediate

outcomes, you get to your long-term outcome. There's a variety of ways you can tinker with your long-term and short-term goals to motivate you. You talked about rewards there. So sticking with exercise, I've heard a lot of people have what they call a cheat day. Can that help? It's a good question. I would imagine,

I've not done any specific research on this, but intuitively it seems to help because it gives you a break. So a cheap day, if we talk about dieting, dieting is hard. And so if you're relentlessly every single day trying to diet, that is hard. And I go back to my use of willpower.

If you're constantly using willpower every day, every day, okay, it's eventually going to snap. Okay. And you're going to feel bad about that. Whereas if you give yourself an opportunity, do you know what? I don't need my willpower today.

I'm going to have a cheat day. Then that can refresh, reset, and also you don't get the disappointment of your willpower snapping and you're having a cheat day without planning to have a cheat day. And so I can imagine how that works quite well. You said this place was steps from the water.

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Get this new must-have concealer at Sephora or at Sephora.com today. So how about the notion of routine or habit? People talk about this a lot. How can we set up a new routine or new habit? This is probably my number one point to do, I would say. If you're new to something, okay, and so you don't really love that activity, it's not part of your character, okay? If possible, if it allows it, I would do that activity

as soon as possible in the day. So if, I'll take going for a walk or going for a run or doing some exercise, okay, do that activity as soon as possible in the day. And what I mean by that is from, you know, if you can do it in the morning, if you do it first thing when you wake up, do it then. But, you know, some people have kids to get dressed and things like that, but do it as soon as the kids have gone to school or before, or do it whatever you're as soon as possible is, do it then.

The reason for that to develop in that routine is there are a number of motivational processes that decline over the course of the day, or if they're negative, they increase. For example, willpower declines over the course of the day typically, okay? Most people give in to temptations afternoon and evening rather than a morning, okay? So our willpower declines over the course of the day. Equally, life gets in the way, okay? If you wake up and plan to do your exercise or whatever it is or write your new novel in an hour's time, that gives life at one hour to get in the way. Whereas if you plan it for the evening, you've got 10, 11, 12 hours for the pipe to leak, the kid to get sick at school and need coming home, to trip over your partner's trainer and break your ankle.

and so the longer you leave it, the more chance of life gets in the way. And then the third bit is really interesting. If you're not really loving the activity, but you want to do it, you want to try it, okay, but it's going to be difficult. Trepidation and dread increases over the course of the day, okay. So again, if we take the jog or the walk, okay, if you think, oh, I should go for a jog, I should go for a walk, okay, but it might be slightly uncomfortable. just dread interpretation will increase over the cross day.

So all those different processes suggest that you should do it early in the morning. Now, once it's become part of your routine, part of your lifestyle, part of, yeah, you can then think about being more flexible. Okay. So I'm not saying for everyone, do exercise in the morning. I'm saying for something that is new that you're new to, I would do it in the morning just to start developing those experiences of that activity. And then once it's part of your your sense of character, your sense of self, then you can relax and fit it into your lifestyle. So sticking with the idea of routine then, personally, I'll be greater doing something for three

months and then maybe I'll go on holiday or I'll get an injury. And then I'll find it incredibly difficult to get back into it. You know, what am I getting wrong? You're certainly not doing anything wrong because that happens to most people. it's probably a combination of what we've been talking about so far. Okay. So let's say you've made some good progress for three months, but you've gone on holiday,

and you might have assumed that you're still at that same level that you were before. Well, just no, just drop the goals and the effort required back down again. Equally, there's, you know, there's plateaus and there's slumps and things like that. And injuries, injuries is a good one because if you're a sporty exercise, person, you know that you'll get injured, but you'll probably know how to recover and it's not part of failing, it's just part of the process, where if you're new to exercise, then you think, oh, I'm injured, oh, I'm failed, I'm rubbish at sport, I'm rubbish at exercise and the sort of the psychological wheels come off if you like, whereas it's just a case of, okay, right,

I've injured or I've been on holiday for two weeks, okay, let's lower the goals, lower the effort, let's start that process again. When we've been doing it for three months and we fall off and it becomes flexible, what we're trying to do in the long term, I keep mentioning this idea of it being part of your character, being part of your identity. The reason why I say this is that this is going to sound slightly odd, but being an exerciser or being a writer or whatever your goal is, is a lot easier, motivationally speaking, than doing exercise or doing right. When you see yourself as a writer, an exerciser, or a healthy person, part of your character, it's very easy. Your motivation is effortless. And so actually, that's why people think that it's not motivation.

It is motivation. It's just it feels effortless when it's part. You know, if you're a runner, you don't need massive amounts of effort and motivation to go and do a run. Whereas if you're new to running, then you will need. Okay. And it's because it's part of you. your character. When it becomes part of your character, motivation becomes really effortless and

seamless. So it's really unfair, actually, that, you know, writers don't need much motivation to, or have effortless motivation to write. Exercises have effortless motivation. Whereas when you're trying to get there, it's really difficult. So if you can just keep the progress, a lot of people talk about consistency. And I think that's really important in terms of, you know, you make some progress, but then you go on holiday, okay, let's just do five minutes again. Let's go back down to being really easy and build it that up. So you've just got consistency of a long period of time. And then it starts becoming part of your character. How about joining a group? I know that can help some of us. It does. That's a really interesting one. It's good. Okay. Joining a group is generally good.

Okay. There's a social support network. There's a sharing of knowledge. There's a sharing of ideas. Okay. But it's not universally good. Okay. Some people, people, myself, I like to go for a cycle on my own. Okay, I don't particularly like going for cycling groups, okay? The important thing is, do you enjoy it? So do you enjoy social support? Okay, if the social support is enjoyable or provides you with some positive experience, then yes, social support is good. And for most people, most of the time, that is the case. Social support is a nice feeling. So you have a positive feeling, you're motivated to do it again. But that doesn't mean you have to do that. It's not for everyone. You can go for a walk on your own.

You can, you know, lots of solitude is, you know, you write on your own. You can do things on your own as well. So yes, as long as it's enjoyable. You know, same with sport. People think that sport is this good panacea of doing things. Well, not if you dislike your teammates and dislike your coaches. And it's the same with social support and the gym class. If you go to a spinning class and there's a load of idiots and people you don't get on with, that, that's, social setting is not going to be motivated. So the key element is, does it make you feel good, rather than social support is universally good? Fortunately, for most people, most of the time, social support does make you feel good. So sticking with social support, so how about our competitive nature? How does that play a rule in this? Yeah, that varies. The problem with competitiveness

is that it becomes out of your control to some degree. So winning is motivated. losing isn't. And it gets a bit more complicated when you talk about actually the pressure to win is more demotivating than losing. So competition is a really fascinating thing from a motivational perspective. So when people say they're really competitive

and it really motivates, I bet it's the fact that it's pretty challenging. They're winning at least some of the time. And when they lose, it's close and it's that. People who, I don't think, there will be many exist who people say, I'm really competitive, and they lose every week. So competition itself can be quite, again, I go back to, well, it depends whether it gives a good feeling.

Does that competition, A, do you win a sufficient number of times for you to feel good about success and winning? Is the loss still rewarding? You played well despite losing and those like that. So competition is not really the important element. It's whether you're winning, losing, whether you're being pressured to win. they're the motivation factors. These days, there are all sorts of devices we can use to measure our progress.

In some ways, that seems great, but surely it can also have a negative effect. Yeah, there's some piece of research, and I've been involved in it. Generally speaking, they're not universally motivating. Obviously, there's some element of progress there, so you can map your progress, which is good. Okay, so if you can see yourself getting better at something, then that usually is quite motivating. But again, it's how you perceive that technology. If you take any fitness device, motivationally speaking, that is inert. That is neither motivating or demotivating.

It's how the person perceives it and uses it. So if you're using it to monitor progress and there is progress, brilliant. if that monitor is saying you're not making any progress, well that's not going to be motivating. Equally, going back to the social element, if you're enjoying the camaraderie with your fellow exercises, dieters or whatever, and you're progressing and they're progressing

and sometimes they do more than you and sometimes you do them more than that, that can be quite rewarding and quite motivating. But if you see your colleagues either, you know, running more than you every week, losing more weight than you every week or getting healthier than you every week, of course, that's not going to be motivating. So the idea that any technology is motivating or not doesn't really sit well with me.

It's the way you use it. The only way you can sort of stop that, you know, if you're not enjoying using the technology, then stop using it. You know, if you're not getting value from it, stop using it, which is difficult for some people, but that's the only advice I can give. So coming off the back of that, is there a point of which goal setting itself can become negative and destructive? Yeah.

If people make, not necessarily negative and destructive is probably in extreme scenarios maybe, but goal setting can certainly be ineffective. Okay, like I say, I've said one. People set two bigger goal, okay? I will see numerous people running down my street in January, absolutely. read as a beetroot, breathing, like they're trying to strive for their last breath. Their goals are too big. They're not going to enjoy it. Yes. So yes, goals can be negative in a lot of ways. And also, there's not this binary whether you've achieved the goal or not. So let's say, you know,

you plan to run a marathon or plan to write a book. Yet you end up running half a marathon, or you end up writing several chapters rather than a full book. Have you failed? Not in a million years. If you've gone from zero to a half marathon, there's no way you failed that. You've done brilliantly well, even though your goal was to run a marathon. So it's that psychological flexibility, okay, where sometimes you've got to push to a goal. Sometimes you've just got to give yourself a break and be a bit kinder to yourself in the way you approach goals.

So targets, targets should be met. Okay, if you're at work and you have a target, you need to meet that target. Okay. Goals need to be a combination of aspirational, so they're long-term goals, so they're exciting, and then the day-to-day goals should be relatively straightforward. If your long-term goals, if you're always meeting your long-term goals, you're not fulfilling your potential. The idea of a goal should be, a long-term goal should be aspirational.

And just at that point where you meet some of those aspirational goals, you don't quite meet some of those aspirational goals. And so I always like to, like a target needs to be met. It's an object. There it is. Okay. Goals need to be in that long-term goals need to be in that sweet spot where, oh, am I going to meet this goal or not? Ooh, I don't know. Thank you for listening to this episode of Instant Genius.

Brought to you from the team behind BBC Science Focus. That was Dr. Ian Taylor. To learn more about Ian's work, check out his forthcoming book, Time Hacks, The Psychology of Time and How to Spend it. If you liked what you just heard, then please do consider subscribing to Instant Genius on your preferred podcast platform. Also, please do check out the other episodes in the Healthy Start mini-series. The current issue of BBC Science Focus magazine is out now. Pick up a copy wherever you buy your favourite magazines or download us on your app store of choice. You can also find us on Apple News or online at Science Focus.

com. This podcast is sponsored by Name, Audio and Focal. The texture and emotional depth of music can be lost through digital sources or poor signal. Name Audio believes you can have digital precision with analog warmth. Alongside French acoustic specialist focal, name creates high-end audio systems, combining innovation with craftsmanship, so you can listen to music, just as the artist intended. Discover more at name audio.com