What kind of writing goals do you set? Word count, revised pages, finished drafts, submitted stories, queried agents? These are examples of goals driven by measurable performance. Research has shown that when “a person is committed to the goal, has the requisite ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive, linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.” But is there more to succeeding than setting clear, attainable goals you’re committed to?
Writing is rarely as straightforward as setting a goal, working, and achieving it. You can set a solid goal. So why do you end up stuck at a blank sheet of paper or that lone, blinking cursor in a new document? There is a huge gap between a performance goal such as “write 1,000 words” and finishing a draft of a novel. Something as complex as a novel is more than a collection of word count goals. To address this gap, we need to address the shortcomings of performance goals.
The Perils of Performance Goals Like Word Count
We set performance goals because it’s easy to know when we’ve reached them. 1,000 words is 1,000 words. But a concrete ending can obscures a less clear beginning or the steps to get you to that clear ending.
“Performance goals can in fact impede performance. This [is] particularly the case when the task is highly complex or the goal is perceived as very challenging, and where the individual is not skilled or is low in self efficacy, or where resources are scarce.”
Likewise, from “New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory”:
“Focusing on reaching a specific performance outcome on a new, complex task can lead to ‘‘tunnel vision’’—a focus on reaching the goal rather than on acquiring the skills required to reach it.”
So how do we avoid tunnel vision and address the real complexity of what we want to accomplish in our writing? We need to think bigger than word count or other things that are easily measured. We need to make room for learning goals.
The Power of Learning Goals
What exactly is a learning goal? Wikipedia’s introduction to goal setting defines learning goals:
“There are times when having specific goals is not a best option; this is the case when the goal requires new skills or knowledge. … In situations like this, the best option is to set a learning goal. A learning goal is a generalized goal to achieve knowledge in a certain topic or field.”
Doesn’t each piece of writing require new skills or knowledge? Whether you’re reporting on a facet of our shared reality or inventing a new one, there’s always something to learn (and teach to your readers).
Unlike word count, learning goals relieve the pressure of immediate output. Focusing too much on outcomes and not giving things time are among the limitations of goal setting:
“Goal setting may have the drawback of inhibiting implicit learning: goal setting may encourage simple focus on an outcome without openness to exploration, understanding, or growth. A solution to this limitation is to set learning goals as well as performance goals, so that learning is expected as part of the process of reaching goals.”
Example Goals Beyond Word Count
The difference between learning and performance goals isn’t purely semantics—they have different psychological impacts on people:
“Learning goals tend to be associated with a range of positive cognitive and emotional processes including perception of a complex task as a positive challenge rather than a threat, greater absorption in the actual task performance (Deci & Ryan, 2002), and enhanced memory and well-being (Linnenbrink, Ryan & Pintrich, 1999).”
Consider the positive challenge of accomplishing learning goals such as: [Read more…]
