Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

What Are The Top 5 Reasons People Fail To Achieve Their Goals

Jan 7, 2025

Explore the fascinating psychology behind why we often fail to achieve our goals. Discover how task initiation paralysis impacted Charles Darwin's monumental projects. Learn about personal contracts and how they can boost your commitment, just like Victor Hugo's writing strategies. Understand the difference between effective and fluffy intentions, which can significantly change success rates for heart patients. Lastly, dive into practical tips for overcoming procrastination and enhancing accountability on your journey to achievement.

32:57

Creator website

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Understanding the importance of present awareness can reduce procrastination and improve the transition from goals to actionable steps.

Creating structured commitments and setting clear deadlines enhances accountability, making it easier to achieve long-term objectives.

Deep dives

The Reality of Goal Setting

Setting goals and envisioning a successful future is common, yet many individuals struggle to transform their aspirations into reality. Often, this failure is attributed not to undesirable ideas, but to a disconnect with the present moment and an unrealistic perception of what achieving those goals entails. The journey toward our goals is frequently slower and filled with mundane tasks that our minds can overlook, leading to a false belief that success can be achieved rapidly. By recognizing that real progress requires effort and consistency, individuals can better prepare themselves for the reality of goal setting.

Intro

5min

Overcoming Internal Barriers to Goal Achievement

4min

Overcoming Task Paralysis Through Simple Commitment

5min

Navigating Financial Resolutions and Easy Investing

3min

Contracts for Personal Growth

16min

The psychology of beating procrastination, inaction, and confusion that lets you systematically work towards any goal.

Goal setting is easy - Goal achieving is a very different thing.

We dig into the main causes and the often small but subtle tweaks we can make that keep us in check.

Using ideas from psychology and ancient wisdom we see how humans have dealt with the big hairy ambitious goals over history and how you can too:

Task Initiation Paralysis - Shows us how Charles Darwin overcame the most complex tasks in history.
Ulysses Contracts - Teaches us how Victor Hugo wrote the timeless Hunchback of Notre Dame ahead of schedule by engineering his environment.
Effective vs Fluffy Intentions - How psychologists helped heart surgery patients double their success rates through a simple sentence change.

Sam also lists some of the most effective resources and tools you can access to stay on track to beat the common problems we face.

This episode carries on the mini-series on goals and achievement:

Journey vs Destination - Choosing the right goals
Stop dreaming, start doing - The magic of actually doing stuff

Upgrade to Premium:

🏖️ Ad-free listening

🤘 Support the show

🔓 Exclusive AMAs and bonus content

💬 Community Discord

GrowthMindset.Supercast.com

Sponsors:

🎇 Constant Wonder - The podcast for questioning why

Explorations of wonder and awe in science, art, & history

Get in Touch

👋 Free Call - Schedule Link - https://cal.com/samwebster/mindset

📧 Email - GrowthMindsetPodcast (@) gmail,com

Growth Mindset Psychology:

Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

📺 Watch - YouTube (Growth Mindset)

🛜 Website - Growth Mindset

Chapters:

00:00 How we lose track of reality and where to find it

01:21 Unrealistic expectations

02:07 Not ready for the moment

05:36 Time to adjust to new habit

06:11 Personal responsibility - No external help - No momentum

07:49 Charles Darwin and Task Initiation Paralysis

10:02 Beating Motivation with "when - Then" contracts

13:06 Ulysses contracts and Victor Hugo's writing strategy

16:47 Get it out of your head

17:43 Cohort learning

19:10 Coaching

20:02 Accountability Groups

21:45 Future letters

23:02 Bonus tips

24:07 Temporal discounting and the real Marshmallow study

26:18 Keeping promises to ourselves

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export