Posted on by Max Herrera

What are self-concordant goals?

In the world of psychology (specifically Self-Determination Theory) self-concordant goals are the holy grail of personal productivity. Simply put, self-concordant goals represent who you actually are. They aren’t the things you feel you should do because of societal pressure or fear of judgment. Instead, they are the pursuits that align with your deepest values and authentic interests. When you pursue a self-concordant goal, the effort feels less like “work” and more like an expression of your identity.

The Four Types of Goal Motivation

If you’re familiar with the work of Kennon Sheldon, you likely know these 4 categories of goals:

Motivation TypeThe “Why”Self-Concordance Level
IntrinsicYou do it because it’s inherently fun or challenging.High
IdentifiedYou do it because you truly believe it is important/valuable.High
IntrojectedYou do it to avoid guilt or to boost your ego.Low
ExternalYou do it because someone else told you to or for a reward.Low
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Posted on by Max Herrera

Achieving Personal Goals

Achieving personal goals.
Achieving your personal goals.

Hello, this is the first content post in You can’t stop the journey. Here, we’ll speak about achieving personal goals. First, do you know what a goal is? According to Wikipedia’s entry:

An objective or goal is a personal or organizational desired end point in development. It is usually endeavored to be reached in finite time by setting deadlines.

And that’s it. A personal goal is that thing you really want to achieve. Normally, achieving personal goals is not an isolated thing. On the contrary, they imply several subgoals you have to reach first. In this sense, we have to define how we are going to conduct ourselves in order to reach the subgoals. Remember, it’s not only the arriving point what matters… the integrity you show while following your path is the most important fact.

Now, what are your life’s goals? Or better stated, what do you want? Money? Family? Health? Education? Fame? A superb job? Please, answer this first honestly. Reaching goals that hold personal meaning to you increases the feeling of happiness. Oh, and… where do you belong? To the material or to the spiritual type?

Now, before continuing, do you have the bases to achieve your general goals? Let’s assume you want that very-well-paid-job. Do you have the required education? No? Then you have to introduce a subgoal related to academic formation. Yes? Then, have you researched the job’s field thoroughly? Do you know the current information trends related to that job? Do you know what is the state-of-the-art in such knowledge area? Do you know who are the best representants of that job? What are the biggest companies? Now, do you have a solid contacts network? Please, start thinking, and start answering.

My own goal with this post is to flame your awareness, cognition and self-view on yourself. That’s the starting point of the journey we will be revisiting in upcoming posts.