Small Steps to Success​

Sometimes when we feel overwhelmed, we just need to start somewhere. New research by Szu-chi Huang, assistant professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, finds that while people benefit from concentrating on small “sub-goals” in the early stages of a pursuit, they should focus instead on the larger objective in the late stages.

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“When you are just starting a pursuit, feeling reassured that it’s actually doable is important, and achieving a sub-goal increases that sense of attainability,” Huang says. But later, people are no longer concerned about attainment and need to feel that their actions continue to be worthwhile in order to maintain motivation.

 

“At that point, to avoid coasting and becoming distracted, they need to focus on that final goal to see value in their actions,” Huang says. 

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For example, someone who has so far lost 32 pounds by aiming to shed two pounds a week probably feels assured he can reach a final goal of losing 40. To stay motivated, he should now shift his focus to the big 40-pound objective. Or, a student in her fourth year of school likely isn’t worried about passing her classes. To remind herself that studying is still worth the effort, she should now think about obtaining her degree instead of just passing yet another test.