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The original was posted on /r/getmotivated by /u/tremendousspeller on 2023-08-07 06:45:54+00:00.

Original Title: [Article]To feel happier and more motivated when pursuing goals, focus less on reasons such as necessity of the goal or fear of loss of self-esteem, and more on the pleasure of goal pursuit and ways you can have a positive influence in other people’s lives.

Came across an article recently (see link at the bottom) and I like the ideas it discusses. It’s a summary of a recent study published in a peer-reviewed academic journal called Psychological Reports.

Basically, it says we have four types of reasons for pursuing goals. Let’s say the goal you’re after is growing your business to the point where you’re making six figures. Here are your potential reasons:

Pleasure: Learning how to grow my own business is really fun and enjoyable.

Altruism: As I grow my business, I will more a bigger opportunity to positively impact people’s lives. *

Fear of self-esteem loss: I MUST succeed in growing my business or else I’d be a worthless person. *

Necessity: I MUST make six figures in order to be happy and satisfied with life.

There’s a table in the article that shows the last two reasons for goal pursuit are “avoidance” related while the first two are “approach” related. This is important because approach-related reasons are more motivating and make us happier.

The researchers trained people to pursue goals more often for the first two reasons than the last two. And this produced positive results in terms of satisfaction, happiness, and work engagement.

So, whatever goal you are pursuing, when you feel a lack of motivation, question your reasons for goal pursuit:

Are you afraid of feeling worthless or incompetent?

Are you motivated only by necessity because you assume this job or this much money is will take away all your worries and make you really happy and satisfied with life?

If so, maybe this is the wrong goal.

Or maybe you need better reasons for motivating yourself, like pleasure. What if you don’t feel pleasure? Then make little changes to make your work more fun and enjoyable.

And if you find the work meaningless, focus on ways you are touching other people’s lives and making their lives better. Really reflect on it.

I hope this helps.

Link: