What 1,000 Swedes Can Tell Us About Goals

It's that time in the content calendar for business gurus and LinkedInfluencer-types to hype about goal setting. If your social media algorithm is like mine, it seems like everyone and their mom are talking about SMART goals, posting their 4-day exercise regime results, and offering untold riches through...breathing?​

The start of a new year, just like the start of any major life event, offers an emotional clean slate. The question is hard to avoid: what will you write on a clean chalkboard? As much as I want to hate on the hype, it's a reality: [insert your local cultural calendar] Resolutions have been around since ancient times.

There's nothing wrong with capitalizing on that feeling, just like there's nothing right about keeping to the same routine. Your life, your choice...but what's so bad about choosing to get a little better? Because you might fail?!

Yes. You might fail.

In reviewing scholarly research on New Years Resolutions, one study in particular jumped out to me: A large-scale experiment on New Year’s resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals. A few things elevated this study compared to most of the internet-circulated garbage statistics:

• A significant participant count (N = 1066), all Swedish
• Participants could come up with their own goals, not pick from a list
• The researchers' hypothesis was proven wrong

The purpose of the study was to evaluate if people were more successful in reaching their goals if they got some or a lot of support from friends and goal-setting resources.

TL;DR on what 1,000 Swedes can tell us about goals: you are more likely to reach your goals with support.

Mind blowing, right?

Not really, no.

It's not a clickbait-y enough headline for goal-fluencers. The zinger to me didn't appear until reading about 75% of the study. Here's what you need to know for a much more valuable payoff:

1. The study broke the participants into three groups: 1) No Support, 2) Some Support (emails, mostly), and 3) Lots of Support (rigorous goal-setting training and social accountability).
2. At the end of the year, 62% of the Some Support group said they stuck to their resolutions, while 53% of the Lots of Support group said they stuck to their resolutions. That's 9% less.

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The researchers had hypothesized that the Lots of Support group would outperform the other groups. Lots of education, lots of social support, keeping the goals top of mind...more likely to say they succeeded, right?

Wrong.

Here's a much more interesting TL;DR: if you make better and more specific goals, you're more likely to know when you fail.

This is why I think people don't like setting New Years Resolutions. SMART goals make you vulnerable. It's easy to lie to yourself that you're getting better when your goal is vague. "Be more healthy this year" is a lot easier to fudge success versus "Limit ordering takeout to twice a month."

That third time you order crappy Chinese food feels REALLY bad because you know you are Doordash-ing a year-sized failure (even though it tastes so good when you're hungover).

Improvement isn't only breathing hacks and Atomic Habits, but it's also sitting with the possibility that you will fall short of your aspirations. If you truly want to be a better person, get comfy with crappy: you're going to fumble on your journey to excellence. If you aren't stumbling, you probably aren't going far enough.

Why not set some goals this year? Because you might fail?!

Yes, and that's great. I'll eat my own dog food and share a few of my goals/potential failures at the end of this email.

PS. 56% of the No Support group said they hit their goals. Sure they did 😜.

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A TL;DR from the CRO

Is my New Years Resolution to take more Me Time setting me up for enough possible failure?

-Roman Noodles, Chief Ruff Officer

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What kinds of failure/successes am I setting myself up for this year? One that I've set is to become a fan of something.

I've never been the kind of person to be a fan. It's probably an ego thing, but also because I rarely stick with things I understand and instead crave to learn something new. Capricious Curiosity.

However, I want to have more to say at parties than how cute Roman Noodles was today. I think if I give myself permission to luxuriate learning about an artist, sports team, or hobby, I'll get a lot of pleasure out of it. Case in point: I get excited to post about rock tumbling in this newsletter. My dumb rocks are luxurious.

Here's what's on my short list for me to be a fan of this year:

• An e-sports team
• Terrarium influencers
• Porter Robinson

I'm also Taylor Swift-curious, so that's a contender but gosh Swifties are intimidating. How does someone get started learning about a Person of the Year without looking like a dweebus?

I guess I gotta get comfortable with being crappy.

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Your favorite dweebus,

Dan from Learn to Scale​

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​PS. Grab an extra big mug of tea and immerse yourself in the science of timing with bestselling author Dan Pink​