Setting and Achieving Goals based on Scientific Research

Setting and Achieving Goals based on Scientific Research

The purpose of this course is to identify your goals and increase your chances of achieving them using methods backed by peer reviewed scientific research.

By the end of this course, you will have completed a set of exercise that guide you through the following steps to increase your chances of reaching your goals:

1. Describe your desired future for your chosen time frame using "Freewriting" techniques.

2. Write and refine your goals so you can measure progress and direct your actions towards your goals using a plan.

3. Build an action plan (strategy) that connects your goals to your life now.

4. Specify actions you can do now to make progress towards your goals and organize them in a schedule.

For each element of the above, we will go through 4 segments in detail to ensure you know what we are doing, why it works and how to do it, along with exercises and solved examples.

I use peer reviewed scientific research in addition to my 10 year experience as a college lecturer to ensure that what I am suggesting is effective.

The course is designed to benefit every person by offering different paths through the material. Depending on your background, interest, and the time you can invest; you can choose to complete every part of the course to get the maximum value from it or, for example, you can choose to go through the summaries only before completing the exercises.

Although completing all the elements of the course will maximize your chances of achieving your goals, any combination of material you choose to complete will provide some benefit. Even taking the shortest path through the material will improve your chances of success.

Check out the preview videos and let's start working on your goals.

Sources

Schippers, Michaéla C., Ad WA Scheepers, and Peterson. "A scalable goal-setting intervention closes both the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap." Palgrave Communications 1.1 (2015): 1-12.

Epton, Tracy, Sinead Currie, and Christopher J. Armitage. "Unique effects of setting goals on behavior change: Systematic review and meta-analysis." Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 85.12 (2017): 1182.

Wiedemann, Amelie U., et al. "Disentangling the relation between intentions, planning, and behaviour: A moderated mediation analysis." Psychology and Health 24.1 (2009): 67-79.

Macan, Therese H., et al. "College students' time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress." Journal of educational psychology 82.4 (1990): 760.

Adams, Richelle V., and Erik Blair. "Impact of time management behaviors on undergraduate engineering students’ performance." Sage Open 9.1 (2019): 2158244018824506.

Wise, Roy A. "Dopamine, learning and motivation." Nature reviews neuroscience 5.6 (2004): 483-494

Latham, Gary P., and Edwin A. Locke. "Self-regulation through goal setting." Organizational behavior and human decision processes 50.2 (1991): 212-247.

Bandura, Albert, William H. Freeman, and Richard Lightsey. "Self-efficacy: The exercise of control." (1999): 158-166.

Schunk, Dale H. "Self-efficacy and education and instruction." Self-efficacy, adaptation, and adjustment. Springer, Boston, MA, 1995. 281-303.

Hall, Nathan C., et al. "Achievement goals and emotions: The mediational roles of perceived progress, control, and value." British Journal of Educational Psychology 86.2 (2016): 313-330.

Mathews, Andrew, Valerie Ridgeway, and Emily A. Holmes. "Feels like the real thing: Imagery is both more realistic and emotional than verbal thought." Cognition & emotion 27.2 (2013): 217-229

Jordan, Michael. I can't accept not trying: Michael Jordan on the pursuit of excellence. Rare Air Limited, 1994.

Taylor, Shelley E., and Lien B. Pham. "The effect of mental simulation on goal-directed performance." Imagination, cognition and personality 18.4 (1999): 253-268.

Pham, Lien B., and Shelley E. Taylor. "From thought to action: Effects of process-versus outcome-based mental simulations on performance." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25.2 (1999): 250-260.

Chan, Carina KY, and Linda D. Cameron. "Promoting physical activity with goal-oriented mental imagery: a randomized controlled trial." Journal of Behavioral Medicine 35.3 (2012): 347-363.

Kaku, Michio. Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Great Discoveries). WW Norton & Company, 2005. 29

Maltz, Maxwell, and Dan Kennedy. The New Psycho-Cybernetics. Updated ed., Prentice Hall Press, 2002.

Elbow, Peter. Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1998. p13

McGilchrist, Iain. "The master and his emissary." The Master and His Emissary. Yale University Press, 2019.

Shams, Ladan, and Aaron R. Seitz. "Benefits of multisensory learning." Trends in cognitive sciences 12.11 (2008): 411-417.

Taleb, Nassim. Fooled by randomness: The hidden role of chance in life and in the markets. Vol. 1. Random House Incorporated, 2005.

Lee, Frank J., and John R. Anderson. "Does learning a complex task have to be complex?: A study in learning decomposition." Cognitive psychology 42.3 (2001): 267-316.

Describe your future, set your goals, build an action plan and take action now. Goal setting and achievement

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What you will learn

• Set and refine your goals such that they guide your actions and allow you to measure progress.
• Measure progress towards abstract goals like improving your relationship with a family member.
• Evaluate the risk of pursuing a particular goal.

Rating: 0

Level: All Levels

Duration: 5 hours

Instructor: Imad Mantash