If you want to learn how to set achievable goals, this post is for you. In other posts, we have covered how to define your goals and how to make a plan to achieve those goals. Now, we’ll go into more detail on how to set achievable goals based on neuroscience 🧠.

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So frequently, we get excited about setting goals that we end up with unrealistic goals ☁️. To avoid that, we’ll go through some of the science behind goal setting and goal achievement. There are several studies that delve into the drivers that keep us motivated to achieve our goals. 

Let’s Dive In

Different from other species, we have the ability to divide goals into immediate, short, medium, and long-term 🗓️. We can also work on multiple goals at once, or as Jordan B Patterson puts it, stake it all on one thing and look for radical success 💥. This all depends on what we are trying to achieve and by when.

Neural Circuit Involved In Goals

There are common neural circuits that orient our thinking and actions toward our goals. When we talk about a Neural Circuit, we are referring to brain areas that, when active in a specific sequence, generate a behavior or perception.

• It’s like playing keys on a piano 🎼; a single key won’t generate music; it’s by playing several keys in a specific sequence that you can create a song 🎵.

When we are goal setting, there are different parts and molecules of the 🧠 brain involved, such as Dopamine, the Amygdala, Basel Ganglia, and Cortex, which make up a Neural Circuit. 

Parts of the Brain Involved in Goal Setting

• 1) The Amygdala this is the part of the brain often associated with anxiety and fear. This part is involved, as we often set goals related to avoiding. Anxiety and fear are part of how we set goals. They can shift us in certain directions. 

• 2) Ventral Striatum> part of the Basel Ganglia, which is a neurocircuit that generates or prevents action. The Basel Ganglia has two circuits that work together: action and inaction. 
  • Circuit One Action: Gets us to do something. For example, I will go for a run.
  • Circuit Two No-Go: Stops us from doing something. For example, I won’t have more cookies.

• Cortex: there are two regions of the Cortex that are involved. 
  • 3) Lateral Prefrontal Cortex (planning) the executive function related to planning and thinking.
  • 4) Orbit Frontal Cortex (emotionality) involves emotionality about where we are and where we want to be. 

These same neuro circuits are involved in goal setting, independent of your goal. Those four parts of the brain make up a circuit that can value information and actions. This neurocircuit circuit can understand the value of a goal at a moment in time and decide whether to take action or not.

Dopamine

Of course, dopamine will be involved in goal setting. Many people think dopamine is all about pleasure and reward, but in fact, it’s a molecule related to motivation🤸🏻‍♀️. The Neurotransmitter Dopamine helps us assess our progress and the value of the goal 🎯. It is the neuromodulator system that governs our goal-setting, assessment, and pursuit 🧗🏻‍♀️. 

Frameworks to Set Achievable Goals

There are many theories and frameworks around goal setting. In another post, we talked about SMART goals, which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. There are other frameworks for goal setting like ABC and SMARTER.

• ABC: Achievable, Believable, and Committed 
• SMARTER: adding Ethical and Rewarding to the SMART framework.

Basically, these frameworks or acronyms make it clear that the goal needs to be specific and attainable. They also need to be significant, concrete, action-oriented, and inspirational. This is why in How To Achieve Your Goals and Plan Effectively we cover how to plan to achieve your goals.

How To Use Visualization To Set Achievable Goals

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard much about visualization 👀, manifesting, and so on. However, visualization is not the biggest and most important factor in achieving your goals.

Research from NYU shows that when we focus on an external point, that is, when we place our attention on one thing, a specific goal, or a finish line 🏁, we are more likely to achieve said goal. A study conducted by NYU found that people who focus on the finish line can achieve said goal with 17% less effort and attain that goal 23% quicker than people with no goal or finish line.

You can test this if you go for a run 🏃🏻‍♀️. You’ll notice that if you look to the sides or distract yourself with each butterfly🦋 that goes by, your pace will be impacted, even if it’s by milliseconds. Changing where you look can impact your pace and effort. 

When we focus our attention on a goal or finish line, we also prepare our brain and body for action 🤸🏻‍♀️. Setting our focus on a particular location prepares us to get ready and lean toward that direction. Your brain 🧠 coordinates action, so you want to orient yourself so you can move toward your goals.

How To Set Long-Term Achievable Goals

Keeping motivation for long-term goals or those that are further away, may be harder, as working towards them may feel less rewarding today 👎🏻.

• It may also be harder because we are usually focused on our present selves and don’t imagine our future selves, making it harder to have empathy with our future selves.

Visualization is not the best way to maintain motivation. Instead, visualization works best to get us started with goals. Once we’ve started, visualization becomes counterproductive and undermines our process 📉. 

Studies show that positive thinking is not always your best option. Instead, thinking about failure, that is, not achieving your goal, can nearly double your probability of achieving your goal 😮. Yes. Failure. You should think about what will happen if you don’t achieve this goal.

• What will that failure look like?
• Are there any obstacles you may encounter along the way?
• It turns out thinking about failure can be a great motivator 🤷🏻‍♀️, help you generate the energy you need to move towards your goals and think ahead about the obstacles you may encounter.

Goal Achieving

Your probabilities of achieving a goal can also depend on the level of difficulty of that goal: easy, moderately difficult, difficult, or impossible. As I mentioned, we may get too excited 💥when setting goals that we end up with goals that are impossible to achieve. 

• Goals that are too easy are not inspirational, and we are unlikely to pursue them because they don’t move or excite us. 
• Moderate goals, which are moderately difficult, just outside of our possibilities but within reach, are good goals to set. These goals are both realistic and challenging. They can engage and motivate us. 
• Too lofty or impossible: impossible goals can get us excited, but they won’t necessarily get us moving. Our body and mind won’t go into a state of readiness because they don’t consider that goal possible 🙃.
  • So, no matter how exciting these goals may be, action towards them is less probable. And, if we don’t use visualization to our advantage, we may also end up fantasizing about these goals, feeling as if we’re already achieving a goal we haven’t even started working on.

Goal Pursuit

💭 When are too many options too much?

Countless studies show the countereffects of having too many options 🤷🏻‍♀️. One of these very well-known studies was published in 2000 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

• In this study, psychologists Sheena Iyengar from Columbia and Mark Lepper from Stanford questioned the notion that “the more choice, the better.” In this experiment, psychologists displayed a table with jams in a grocery store. On a given day, they displayed 24 jams and six jams on another one.
• Their results found that variety, or the wide number of options, sparked the curiosity of customers. Nevertheless, it was when they limited the options to six jams that sales increased ✔️. 

All this points towards a clear conclusion: In the beginning, having too many options or directions to choose from may seem exciting, but when you have to choose one, it can become overwhelming. This is where many people fall into analysis paralysis. 

So, if you want to set yourself on the right track to achieve your goals, limit your options and don’t try to pursue too many goals simultaneously. Andrew Huberman recommends setting 1 to 3 big goals per year. 

The Anticlimax and Ques That Keep Us Going

The achievement of some goals may be anticlimactic, which keeps us hooked on goal setting and attainment.

• A clear example is video games 🎮; when you get to level two, you may feel as if there is no reward, so you want to get to level three, thinking that the next achievement will be more rewarding. 

Dopamine and The Anticlimax 

Reward-Prediction Error: ✨ Dopamine isn’t released in the same schedule or amount; it changes based on the anticipation and reality of a situation. For example, a greater amount of dopamine is released when something is positive and novel (unexpected).

• ➡️ If we anticipate something positive will happen, we experience dopamine as part of the anticipation, even before we get the reward. Then, when we do get the reward, there is an increase in dopamine, but not as high as if the situation were unexpected. 
• ⬇️ If we anticipate something positive will happen, and then it doesn’t, dopamine drops below our initial baseline; this drop is what we call disappointment.
• ⬆️ If we don’t anticipate something positive happening, and then it does, more dopamine is released since it is novel and unexpected. Think about times you have received a surprise or opened your inbox to unexpected but positive news.

This reward ✔️ system helps us decide where we should set our milestones.

• The Neural Circuit involved in goal setting includes the Amygdala, Basel Ganglia, Cortex, and Dopamine.
• Often, goals are related to avoiding.
• Dopamine helps us evaluate the value of a goal and our progress toward it.
• Goal Setting Frameworks:
  • ABC: Achievable, Believable, and Committed 
  • SMARTER: adding Ethical and Rewarding to the SMART framework. 
• Visualization can help us get started, but once we are on the right track, it might be better to start thinking about possible obstacles than fantasizing about a goal we haven’t achieved. 

Visualization: effective to get us started but not to maintain us in pursuit of our goal. 

• Positive Thinking is not always the best idea. Studies show that visualizing failure is much more effective in generating the energy for us to move toward the goals we want to achieve. 
• Changing where you focus can change where you end up.
• Too many options is not always your best option. Having too many options may lead us to analyze paralysis. 
• Long-Term Goals: It may be harder to keep motivated for long-term goals as they seem further away. Instead, try to have empathy with your future self.
• Actionable Takeaways
  • Write it down! Both your goal and how you could fail. 
  • Set moderately difficult goals, too-easy goals won’t motivate you, and too lofty ones won’t get you into a state of readiness.
• Guiding Questions 
  • What will happen if you don’t achieve this goal?
  • What will that failure look like?
  • Are there any obstacles you may encounter along the way?
  • How could you fail if you take a different path?
  • How will you feel if you don’t achieve this goal?
  • Are there any potential obstacles?