The effects in our brain of setting goals

 Objective:

There are many goals to set with a new year ahead. Most of us, think about starting a new routine, making changes in our lifestyle, being more productive, going to the gym, etc. But at the end of the day, we finish with all of those incredible good intentions in the garbage. Why? According to science, there are some chemical effects when we are setting goals which I will mention below. 

Reflective:

According to scientists and neuroscience, there are two neurotransmitters that work in our goal setting. The first one is serotonin, one of the most important roles is to control our emotional life to make our mood stable. Also, dopamine is the other well-known and it works as a motivator, it creates the sensation of pleasure when our brain is achieving a goal. So, procrastination comes when there is an excess of frustration taking us into a state of fear and blocking the production of dopamine. But dopamine could be obsessive because we are looking for being rewarding dopamine.

Talking about setting goals, the idea of less is more attainable because with more realistic, small goals, less stress and frustrating in the process of achieving it. In this case, listening deeply to our feelings is a good indicator of reaching whatever we have in our minds. A good exercise is to keep motivated is visualizing accomplish those objectives experiencing that feeling. 

Interpretative:

I think every year all of us have planned new projects, objectives, and goals that at the end of the day those were just on the bucket list of new year's eve. After that, we start to have that lack of motivation, that decreases our levels of dopamine-induced for our fears, frustration, and stress. A good example of that is our goal to go to the gym when January starts, but more than fear or frustration is getting that as a habit, incorporating that activity as a daily routine. Taking the advantage of the scientist, if we start with a little progression every day, including 20 minutes in our routine, more than accomplishing a goal, we are gaining health and have a good feeling about ourselves, we are capable to work for our goals and how the time pass we will be able to accomplish more and more goals. 

Decisional:

Working on my personal development plan has been one of my goals for this new year, mainly because is one of the topics that I have learned in this course. More than knowing ourselves and what we should improve is making those goals attainable and part of reality. We can start walking every day 5 minutes early to be on time, 3o minutes earlier to work out, eat more vegetables, drink more water, read at least one page of a book, talk for at least 5 minutes with your loved ones. Those little steps and activities in our routine will take us in a successful and meaningful life. The thing is taking small steps every day. 

References:

Murphy, M. (n.d.). Neuroscience Explains Why You Need To Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want To Achieve Them. Forbes. Retrieved January 08, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2018/04/15/neuroscience-explains-why-you-need-to-write-down-your-goals-if-you-actually-want-to-achieve-them/?sh=2142871e7905