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How To Flip The Script With Anti-Goals And Achieve Things Faster
Article

How To Flip The Script With Anti-Goals And Achieve Things Faster

Supriya Venkatesan
Forbes, 2023
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8

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Recommendation

The human brain prioritizes survival above achievement. Thus, fear is naturally more compelling than hope, and loss is a more potent motivator than gain. Executive coach Supriya Venkatesan recommends leveraging this human weakness to help you reach your objectives. Counterintuitively, by working toward your “anti-goals,” your ultimate goal might just be within reach.

Summary

Research confirms an inherent “negativity bias” in humans, which makes the fear of loss more motivating than the anticipation of reward.

Popular methods for setting and reaching goals usually involve determining your destination, deciding upon the milestones you must reach to get there, and then executing. Alas, your brain is not wired to achieve goals in such a linear way. The human brain, specifically the amygdala region that is responsible for fear and anxiety, is programmed for survival. Thus, it responds more urgently to avoiding pain and suffering than to working toward an achievement. Scientists call this phenomenon the “negativity bias.” 

Multiple studies confirm the presence of negativity bias in humans. But research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology took the theory a step further. It examined whether subjects could harness the negativity bias in order to reach their ultimate goals. Participants were encouraged to frame their goals in terms of avoiding negative ...

About the Author

Executive coach and serial entrepreneur Supriya Venkatesan is the founder of Samskara, a leadership coaching company that employs neuroscience tools to unlock individual potential. 

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