key: [terms/terms] [discussion leads]

Person/Group: Personal

Energy is a matter of needs  (Deci & Ryan, 1985).  You have to define your needs

• to self (inner)
• to others (outer)

What are your needs and what are the processes that turn your needs into behavior?  (Deci & Ryan, 1985)

• Describe your process of thinking you need to lose weight and then…
• If that doesn’t work, think of the last time you wanted to work out.   Did you?
  • If so, what was the process from thought to action?
  • If not, what was the process from thought to next non-athletic action?

The needs you’ve talked about, can they be considered others’ needs?

Goal: “Maintain a good healthy body; healthy body weight; overall body fitness”

First, the subject is trying to “maintain” as opposed to “achieve” a goal

• “goal attainment calls for the use of eager approach strategies” (Brodscholl, Kober, & Higgins, 2007)
• “goal maintenance calls for the use of vigilant avoidance strategies” (Brodscholl, Kober, & Higgins, 2007)

Ask the subject to clarify: Are you trying to achieve a goal or are you trying to prevent something?

If you want to achieve something, you [need to] place value on the outcome (Brodscholl, Kober, & Higgins, 2007)
If you want to prevent something, you place no value on the outcome (Brodscholl, Kober, & Higgins, 2007)

Second, we need to move from thinking of outcome-based processes to specific goal-oriented performance.  Let’s begin with very general outcomes that can result from what you described as “overall body fitness.”  [For example, an outcome might be you feel better or you look better or...]

What is the outcome you are trying to achieve [specifically]?

Finally, we’ll start pinpointing your goals.  Now, since this is an initial session, I’m not going to give you a weight loss plan worksheet or anything.  But, I want you to start thinking with a clear goal mindset.  Here’s a way of looking at it: winning a game versus making a shot.  I want you to tell me right now what you might consider some clear goals, in whatever scope you want.

Are those clear goals?  Is there any way you could modify the goal to make it clearer?

We should also clarify who these goals are meant to be for.  Initially, you said these were “personal” goals, and that’s okay.  If these are truly personal goals then we can talk about intrinsic (inner) motivation and the thought that you can really drive yourself toward these goals.  Of course, there are views both ways on whether you can achieve goals alone or not, so let’s talk about that.

I’ve got three areas we could cover:

• Do you feel that you are competent in setting forth a plan to achieve these goals of fitness?  (How might you become more competent?)
• Do you feel that you can achieve the goal autonomously, by yourself?  (What might prevent you from doing so?)
• Do you feel that your goals are related to other things?  (Examples: your marriage, your hobbies, your finances, etc.)
• (Ryan & Deci, 2000)

Current Performance: “Compete (in the loosest sense) rarely”

You talked loosely about your competition mode.  In fact, you said you compete in “the loosest sense” (direct quote).  I’d like to emphasize that performance can be assessed.  Obviously, you know what an assessment is, a test.  What’s the last test you took?  I’m going to tell you about one way of developing an assessment model and we’ll talk through how each element relates to your goal of _______ (ask: what was you goal? and have participant restate goal).

• What is the reason(s) for an assessment for fitness?  (answer: to measure results)
• What exactly (type of performance) are we saying would be evaluated? (answer: distance or time length of run)
• What are the precise exercises that will elicit performance?  (see how we can extract exercise from your diet)
• How do you plan to systematically rate each procedure?  (answers: weight loss, blue jeans size, etc.)
• (Stiggins, 1987)

Current Perception of Goal: “Will never meet own expectations”

Self-Handicapping: setting yourself up to fail and place blame on others when you fail

“Individuals who engage in self-handicapping arrange unfavourable circumstances for their important performances so as to maintain esteem in case of failure, or enhance esteem in case of success” (Bailis, 2001)

So, you need to be aware if you are self-handicapping or not.

Perhaps your self-handicapping strategy is setting a goal that is too high (Greenberg, 1985).

You also have to look at what your incentives are to succeed (as opposed to incentive to fail with self-handicapping)

Incentives may influence:

• goal choice
• goal commitment
• task performance
• (Riedel, Nebeker, & Cooper, 1988)

REVIEW

• The goal you’ve chosen is defined as _______
• Your motivation is [self/other]
  • Your [self/other] motivation comes from [intrinsic/extrinsic] source origin
• The process from source to action is _______
• You’ve determined whether you are trying to [obtain/avoid] your goal
• You’ve determined whether or not you are competent to achieve your goal
• We’ve talked about, in the future, mapping out a way to measure results (assess performance)

SOURCES