Self Regulation and Goal Setting

A simple strategy to improve your self regulation

by in Psychology 0

I for one, know what it’s like to set goals just to realise I haven’t come close to achieving them!!  I’ve set about many resolutions to increase my exercise, save money, improve my diet etc, but haven’t got there…why is this? Did I not clearly define what I wanted to achieve?  Was I not motivated to actually achieve the goal? Or could it have been that I hadn’t taken the time to look at what I was currently doing, and reflect on this is relation to what I wanted to achieve.

Self regulation lies at the heart of goal setting.  Self regulation is about firstly setting a standard for our desired behaviour, then monitoring our current behaviour….if the fit between our desired goal and our current behaviour is right, then we don’t need to act to change what we’re doing….. but if what we want to achieve does not match up with what were currently doing, this discrepancy (also known as Cognitive Dissonance) then motivates us to act!!

So….when preparing to make a change, firstly, set a clear goal for what you want to achieve (for example, I want to reduce my coffee consumption to one cup per day)…and then spend some time collecting some observations about what you are currently doing (currently drinking four cups!). It’s likely that simply comparing what you’re currently doing, to the goal or standard you wish to achieve, will increase your motivation to act towards change, as you have a clear baseline for what you want to address.  Taking the time to really notice what we’re doing, also helps us to notice when we’re doing things on “auto-pilot” and to reflect on possible triggers for our behaviours. Is it that in fact I go for another coffee when I’m in need of a break, or is it to relieve boredom?

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Wanting to change your diet?  Start with a 1 week food diary where you write down everything you eat each day.  Wanting to save money?  Keep a log of every purchase you make (no matter how small) for seven days.  At the end of your week reflect on your log/diary in relation to where you want to be.  Then have a think about the triggers or antecedents that might have led to the behaviour you’ve logged.  This simple self monitoring task is very likely to increase your motivation and help you achieve your goals.  Continue your log as you set about achieving your goal, and this will give you objective feedback of your progress!!

It may sound basic, but it works!!  Have you tried this strategy when making a change?

References:

Watson, D.  (1997).  The principles of self-regulation.  Self directed behaviour:  self modification for personal adjustment. Pacific Grove:  California, pp 111 – 136.

Positive Thinking: Can Self Talk and Positive Affirmations Increase your Performance?

by in Psychology 0

Our minds are constantly chattering away with an internal dialogue, or “self talk.”  Our self talk can be helpful, and can help to increase our confidence, mood or performance, or at times, self talk can be negative, which can lead to decreased confidence, performance difficulties and low mood.

Do you use positive thinking to help you get through tough situations, like public speaking, performances or even social situations?  Does it work for you?  Using positive affirmations or “positive self talk” is often praised as a key strategy to increase performance, and even to change our moods…but is self talk actually effective? Could simply replacing a negative thought with a positive one actually change how we feel and help us to perform better?

Some people like to use positive affirmations to increase their confidence (eg, “I’m great at X, I’m amazing!!” etc), but it’s important to use such affirmations with caution.  If you don’t actually believe the content of a positive affirmation to be true, then it could backfire.  A study by Wood, Perunovic & Lee (2003) evaluated the effectiveness of positive self statements.  The results concluded that for people with low self esteem, positive self statements can be ineffective and can cause the person’s feelings about themselves and their mood to feel worse!!  For people with high self esteem, positive self statements were shown to lead to a small increase in positive feelings and mood.  The authors of the study outline that  “Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people, but backfire for the very people who ‘‘need’’ them the most.”

Self talk is a popular technique in the field of sports psychology, but there is surprisingly little evidence to support its benefit… however, Moran (2004) outlines that self talk may be useful in performances, as it can direct our attention to focus on key cues and demands related to a performance.

So with all this confusion, how can you best use self talk to support your performance in any given situation?  Try the following tips:

  •  Keep self talk positively phrased, emphasising what you should do, instead of what you should avoid.  For example, “I can choose healthy food options”, rather than “don’t eat junk food!”, or “relax my shoulders and breath deeply” rather than “don’t make any mistakes!.”
  • Don’t use positive affirmations you don’t believe to be true – instead, find a statement that focuses your attention on something you can control or focus on.
  • Keep positive statements focused on things within your control, for example “Take a deep breath to relax,” “soft grip,” “focus on your posture,” “if I make a mistake, take a breath and start again” etc.
  • Keep it short and simple, and as vivid as possible, to focus your attention on cues relevant to the task.  Try a trigger word related to performance cues like “relax”, “energise!” “soft tone” etc.
  • Use past successes to boost your confidence – rather than a general positive affirmation “I rock at public speaking!,” you could focus your self talk on a past successful performance “I felt confident when I gave a speech at last month’s team meeting and received great feedback!”

Do you ever use self talk to help you to focus at work, during sports, or when giving performances?  Would you try this?