{"id":5321,"date":"2013-11-04T07:32:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-04T12:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alifeofproductivity.com\/?p=5321"},"modified":"2022-09-02T16:12:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T16:12:55","slug":"the-progress-trap-why-you-shouldnt-track-progress-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/the-progress-trap-why-you-shouldnt-track-progress-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Progress Trap: Why you shouldn&#8217;t track your progress on your goals"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='et-box et-tick'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='et-box-content'><b class=\"takeaway\">Takeaway:<\/b>\nTracking progress on your goals can actually make you less likely to achieve them. The fix? As you reach milestones toward achieving a goal, view your actions as evidence that you\u2019re committed to a goal, and always remember yourself why you want to achieve it in the first place.<\/p>\n<p><b class=\"readingtime\">Estimated Reading Time:<\/b>\n2 minutes, 3s.<\/div><\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-219592\" src=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1098146_48592058-822x1024-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"822\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1098146_48592058-822x1024-1.jpeg 822w, https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1098146_48592058-822x1024-1-480x598.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 822px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Tracking your progress on your goals can surprisingly be counterproductive. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1583334386\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1583334386&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ayeaofpro-20\">According to<\/a><\/span> psychologist Kelly McGonigal, \u201c[a]lthough it runs counter to everything we believe about achieving our <a title=\"Trouble achieving your goals? Use the S.M.A.R.T. method.\" href=\"https:\/\/chrisbailey.com\/make-your-goals-smarter\/\">goals<\/a>, focusing on progress can hold us back from success\u201d.<sup id=\"rf1-5321\"><a href=\"#fn1-5321\" title=\"Source: &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1583334386\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1583334386&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ayeaofpro-20&quot;&gt;The Willpower Instinct&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt; book.\" rel=\"footnote\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Need a little proof? Take these two studies:<sup id=\"rf2-5321\"><a href=\"#fn2-5321\" title=\"Source: &lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1583334386\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1583334386&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ayeaofpro-20&quot;&gt;The Willpower Instinct&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;\/span&gt; book.\" rel=\"footnote\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Researchers at the University of Chicago ran a study where they reminded successful dieters of their progress, and then offered them a choice between an apple and a chocolate bar as a reward. When dieters were reminded of their progress, 85% of them chose the chocolate bar over the apple, compared to just 58% with participants who weren\u2019t reminded.<\/li>\n<li>A second study reminded students of how much they studied for exams, and found that students who were reminded of their progress were much likelier to spend the night partying.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Why is this the case?<\/b> According to McGonigal, \u201c[w]hen you make progress toward your long-term goal, your brain &#8211; with its mental checklist of many goals &#8211; turns off the mental processes that were driving you to pursue your long-term goal\u201d. Then, it becomes more focused on getting satisfaction from indulging, because your brain feels like it has met its goal, and \u201cany temptation will become more tempting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><b>Even your to-do list isn\u2019t safe.<\/b> When you write up a to-do list, you <i>feel<\/i> productive because you\u2019re capturing all you need to do, but research has shown that you\u2019re less likely to actually do it because capturing everything you need to do feels like you\u2019re making progress.<\/p>\n<p><b>What can you do to combat The Progress Trap?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>McGonigal offers up a few suggestions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>\u201cView your actions as evidence that you are committed to your goal.\u201d<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Always remind yourself <i>why <\/i>you want to reach your goal<\/b>, especially as you reach milestones along the way.<\/li>\n<li>Look at your accomplishments to see that you really do care about your goal, \u201cso much so that you want to do even more to reach it\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>After you make positive steps toward a goal, ask yourself: \u201chow committed do you feel toward that goal?\u201d Don\u2019t ask yourself how much <i>progress<\/i> you\u2019ve made toward it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tracking your progress toward your goals sounds like a great idea on the surface, but it can be detrimental to your productivity if you don\u2019t do it right. When you view your actions as signs that you\u2019re committed to your goal, and constantly question <em>why<\/em> you want to reach your goal in the first place, research has shown that you\u2019ll be a lot more successful in reaching it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"footnotes\"><ol class=\"footnotes\" style=\"list-style-type:decimal\"><li id=\"fn1-5321\"><p >Source: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1583334386\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1583334386&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ayeaofpro-20\">The Willpower Instinct<\/a><\/span> book.&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf1-5321\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 1.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><li id=\"fn2-5321\"><p >Source: <span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1583334386\/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1583334386&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=ayeaofpro-20\">The Willpower Instinct<\/a><\/span> book.&nbsp;<a href=\"#rf2-5321\" class=\"backlink\" title=\"Return to footnote 2.\">&#8617;<\/a><\/p><\/li><\/ol>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tracking progress on your goals can actually make you less likely to achieve them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Progress Trap: Why you shouldn&#039;t track your progress on your goals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tracking progress on your goals can actually make you less likely to achieve them.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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