Setting fitness and weight loss goals is a critical first step to living a more healthy life. But it’s only a first step. True progress requires persistent action. As Thomas Edison once said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.”
If you are anything like me, then you’ve had your share of starts and stops before reaching a fitness or healthy lifestyle goal or commitment. This could be as simple as not running the entire four miles you intended to run or eating chocolate on a day when you had told yourself you wouldn’t. Of course, the goal could also be something longer term like losing a set amount of weight, or running so many miles in a year.
Once we set a fitness or health goal, we need to do what we can to stay motivated over time. To paraphrase a wonderful fitness quote, we must not stop when we are tired or frustrated or challenged, but only when we are done.
The Challenge of Persistence
When I am running – especially a long run of 10+ miles – the hardest part of the run mentally (and physically it seems) is right in the middle. During the first few miles, I am engaged by the quick progress I make. During the last few miles, I begin to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and this helps me to stay motivated. But miles 4 to 6 can be tough!
It’s the same with weight loss and other long-term goals. Most of us are highly motivated the first week of a new exercise or diet commitment. And when we are nearly at our goal, we find renewed energy to persist. But motivation in that middle ground – days 8 to 14 of a 21-day clean eating challenge, pounds 8 to 15 of a 20 pound weight loss goal – can be so difficult!
As it turns out, there is some psychology that explains the ‘middle ground’ challenge, and some recent research can help us to stay motivated during each phase of our goal pursuit – to persist!
How a Shift in Goal Monitoring Can Motivate Us
It is well established by research that motivation increases as we near the finish line because every step we take has a bigger impact toward achieving the remaining part of the goal. Think of running the last ¼ mile of a 5K. With that truth in mind, two researchers from the US and Korea wondered if our focus on monitoring goal progress could also affect the perceived impact of each “step” we take.
Though not in the fitness domain, the researchers investigated the motivational power of what they called “the small area hypothesis” – a focus on tracking whichever is smaller, results or actions already achieved or results or actions remaining to achieve a goal.
Specifically, the researchers proposed and found support for the following: A focus on what we have already accomplished (e.g., 5 pounds lost, 3 miles run, 20% done) is more motivating at the beginning of a goal pursuit whereas a focus on what we have left to accomplish (e.g., 5 pounds to go, 3 miles left, 20% remaining) is more motivating as we near goal completion.
Specifically, the researchers conducted an experiment focused on use of a rewards card at a sushi restaurant (“buy 10 meals, get 1 free”). [I know, I know – not fitness, but still insightful!] Over the course of four months, half of customers were randomly assigned to receive a card that focused their attention on accumulated progress. These customers received a card in which a stamp was placed on the card for each meal purchase. (See the figure, Panel A)
The other half of the customers received a card that focused their attention on remaining progress. These customers started with 10 stamps and then had one stamp removed with a hole-punch for each meal purchase. (See the figure, Panel B)
Figure – Reward Cards in the Experiment | Panel A – Focus on Accumulated Progress | Panel B – Focus on Remaining Progress
Simple enough. And almost hard to believe that it would matter, right? But it did.
Because different customers bought more or less meals on their initial visit, the researchers were able to see if the monitoring focus of the card had a different impact on continued use of the card (the goal) depending on how much progress toward the goal of getting a free meal a customer had already made (e.g., 2 of 10 meals, 6 of 10 meals, etc.).
And here’s what they found: Customers were more likely to return (and return sooner) to the restaurant when they had made a lot of progress toward completing the card on their first visit (i.e., bought more meals) when the card focused on remaining purchases (Panel B). In contrast, customers were more likely to return (and return sooner) to the restaurant when they had made little progress toward completing the card on their first visit (i.e., bought few meals) when the card focused on accumulated purchases (Panel A).
So the bottom-line takeaway is this: The way we monitor progress has an influence on our continued motivation. When we are less than halfway to a goal, our motivation to continue will be higher if we focus our monitoring on progress to that point.
When we are more than halfway to our goal, in contrast, we should shift our focus because it is more motivating to monitor the distance remaining to achieve our goal.
It’s just a perceptual thing. The shift in focus depending on progress makes each pound, mile, day, or choice seem more impactful. But perception matters … and motivates!
Some Practical Tips to Persist
Here’s a few practical tips for maintaining your motivation based on these results.
First, it is important to make a switch in how progress is monitored at the midpoint of goal pursuit. You could actually do something similar to the reward card used in the experiment. If you are doing a 21-day clean eating challenge, for example, you could add a stamp or post something on a wall for each of the first ten days, and then switch to a “days remaining” focus for the final 10 days. For those days, you might tear off of a sheet for each of the days completed to only leave those remaining.
Second, since the research finding depends on perceiving each bit of progress as more impactful, it holds that breaking a bigger goal into subgoals is also important. One day of clean eating is more impactful for a 7-day goal focus than a 21-day focus, for example.
So consider what your goal is and break it down into smaller units of progress, time, or measurement. If you have an annual running goal, as I do, it would make sense to break this down into a monthly running goal, and to break that goal down into a weekly and possibly daily goal.
And, finally, watch out for the midpoint of your goal pursuit. At this point, there is no small area for monitoring focus, and this can lead to lower motivation to continue. It is at this point especially where you must plan ahead to find other ways to motivate yourself to get over the hump. And it is at this point where it will be especially valuable to have a subgoal in mind!
THE RESEARCH:
Koo, M., & Fishbach, A. (2012). The small-area hypothesis: Effects of progress monitoring on goal adherence. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(October), 138-154.
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