SidSavara.com - Latest Comments in Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Gordon Simmons — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:32:22 -0000

Hello, Sid.

Thanks for the response, and for the articles. I really appreciate all the links you have and the further reading sections.

I'll check out ther esources you mention in the blogs below.

Thanks again for the info!

Best regards,
Gordon Simmons

________________________________

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:18:54 -0000

Hi Becca,

Thanks so much for your kind words! I'll check out Yana.com - sounds like
something I'd really enjoy =)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:18:20 -0000

Hey Svend,

Thanks for the comment - and the nickname. "Sid The Mythbuster" eh? I like
it ;)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:17:53 -0000

Hi Gordon,

I spent some time looking into the issue of endorphin release and I believe
it's true - accomplishing tasks and winning "games" does indeed release
dopamine. I haven't found a single study on that specifically, but I did a
lot of related research in a couple of articles you may be interested in:

http://sidsavara.com/televi...
http://sidsavara.com/person...

I actually did come across a book that references that when we "win" and get
a "reward" we release dopamine, but I cannot find the reference now for you
unfortunately =/. I hope that research helps you though =)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

beccax — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:13:52 -0000

Thanks so much Sid for taking the time to get to the bottom of this. I've been guilty of spreading the wrong info till I came across your post. :) We are building a community site to help people achieve their goals, called Yana.com. People can set their goals, share them with their Facebook friends, and will soon be able to make status updates on their goals, so a lot of what the study found to help people achieve their goals. So thank you so much for pointing to this study! And if you have time to check out our site and provide us your thoughts, we'd really appreciate it. Have a great day!

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Svend Petersen — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:36:50 -0000

"Sid the MythBuster" - good stuff.
Too much snake oil out there: Red wine that cures baldness, CO2 levels causing earthquakes, florecent tubes causing hearing loss.

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Gordon Simmons — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:21:56 -0000

Sid, thanks for diving into this one. It is a story I have retold as well, citing Brian Tracy as the source. Glad to get to the facts of the issue, and doubly glad that someone else took the time to actually do a study. Lesson learned for me: trust but verify. I should have dug deeper to actually find the study myself.

I am on a similar hunt for a related study. Brian Tracy says that when you write down a goal, and then accomplish it, your brain releases endorphins. I'm searching for a study that shows that conclusively, and so far am having no luck. I have corresponded with a couple professors in the field of positive psychology but they have never heard of such a study.

Have you heard this claim before? Do you know of s study to back it up?

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Ron Marriott — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:51:02 -0000

I found a new discovery in science and someone else was claiming it as the answer to their work and "they had the wrong answer to their work". But they made a million dollar movie about it so everyone is impressed by the answer. Misrepresentation of facts can go on for ever if you dress it the right way. Even your written goals can be misleading if facts are wrong.
The intension is right but the goal is wrong for the facts not known.
Thats what I found, a new energy source for earth and someone else is saying that my answer is of something else, they didn't know of my work as I have not gone public yet. I feel bad for the investors on the movie "Thunderbolts of the Gods"
Sorry, But I had to mention the name to keep the facts in line with history.
I think I found Heaven, as the object Im working on goes dimentional and is referred to in the Pyrimeds and the bible as the means to travel with the soul.

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:29:36 -0000

Hi David,

No problem! I figured it was about time somebody did some serious digging
and put everything together =)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

David Singhiser — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:56:36 -0000

Thanks for the post. I was looking for the original study too.

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:04:52 -0000

Hi Astha,

Thanks for your comment, I'm glad I was able to help =)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Astha — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:56:24 -0000

Hey Sid- I have been trying to track down the Harvard study for a couple of days now. I can't tell you how much this post helped me out. Thank you for saving me time!!!

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Jules Rutherford — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:30:21 -0000

Hi Sid

If you're interested I will send you the link to the post I did about it? It should be up tomorrow.

Regards

Jules

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:18:06 -0000

Hi Jules,
You're welcome!I hope your readers and trainees enjoy the story - and now
the backstory! =).

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Jules Rutherford — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:48:01 -0000

Hi Sid

Thanks so much for your lovely, prompt response. I'm sorry I didn't make it clearer in my note but I wouldn't dream of claiming the credit for your work. What I should have said was that I would like to put a link within my blog to your article so I will use the one in the mail from you below.

Thanks again. Wishing you a joyful and peaceful day.

Oh and thanks for the follow on Twitter - if I haven't already I will follow you back.

Regards

Jules

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:38:22 -0000

Hi Jules,
You're welcome! I am glad you enjoyed it and it helped you out =). To be
honest, I thought it was a real study myself. It wasn't until it was pointed
out to me that there may be something fishy that I began researching it.

I think intuitively it still makes sense to me to write down goals - but I
am glad I was able to find a real study with results to back it up in the
end =)

I would love for you to reference my site and quote me in your training
courses - anything I can do to help. Just please don't take it as your own
work without giving me credit - you sound like you're got a lot of integrity
and are out to to help people, so I'm sure you never intended to =)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Jules Rutherford — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:44:06 -0000

Thank you so much for this post. You've saved me a great deal of time!

In the past I have attended many training courses where this study was cited. So often in fact that I began to weave it into my own training courses when I deliver. How embarrassing! I had always felt a level of discomfort at not having the actual study to hand and have had it on my list of things to do to search it out so that I could quote it with total accuracy. Finally getting round to looking it up got me to your blog and I am borderline horrified to read that the study never took place.

I did actually write down my goals some years ago and I achieved mostly everything that I wanted to within that particular year. However, I have achieved a great deal since then by just mentally focussing on what I want and so far seem to be having exactly the same level of success.

Perhaps at it's simplest level just having goals is enough to create momentum in someone? If writing them down works for you but not for me then surely it doesn't make much of a difference does it? As long as we are moving towards the things we want that will make us truly happy then it doesn't really matter what 'methodology' we apply.

Thanks again for taking the time to do the research - I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I am currently writing a blog on Goal Setting on my own site and also wanted to ask your permission to reference your blog within mine? I hope that's ok.

Great site. Jules

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

billjohnson — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:41:50 -0000

I have McCormack's book and I, too, could not find evidence of the study. Like you, I researched and came up empty handed. Thank you for your diligence. I believe that Brian Tracy was the first to cite the "study" in his tapes and seminars. Now the lie has been spread so far and wide that it has taken on the appearance of 'truth.'

I still firmly believe in written goals but you really do have to question everything. Thanks for your work.

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Trees Full of Money — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:08:00 -0000

Thanks for research this Sid, and thank you to Frank as well for tipping you off.

Although it appears this (these) stories are myths, it shouldn't undermine the fact that goal setting and writting down your goals are two of the most effective things you can do to succeed.

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Christine McCarthy — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:41:15 -0000

Wow, there really is no Harvard... Yale... study? How funny. I believe in the concept of writing down your goals. Well, despite its fact or fiction, I like the sound of the ghost study results. I'll believe in it. ;)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

MikeHardly — Wed, 13 May 2009 07:25:59 -0000

I think I'm more interested in where it started. Somebody had to state this in the first place. The oldest source I have is the 1986 Goals tape from Zig Ziglar where he told the story giving details about the results.
For more information visit this link.

camper trailer

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Joni — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:54:12 -0000

Hi Sid! Yes, but...my background is in research design. The study you posted is very poorly designed. (Was it even published in any peer-reviewed journal?)
The study relies on self-report of success or failure in meeting the goals -- not on any objective measurement of that success or failure. People notoriously lie on surveys. Most human undertakings are not 100% a success or 100% a failure. It appears probable that people who wrote down the goals and shared them with friends felt a stronger need to claim success rather than failure. That doesn't mean their actual results were any different.
If a social psychologist really wanted to test this theory, the group would need to be selected at random (not volunteers), the goals would need to be assigned at random, and the success or failure objectively measured.

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:26:15 -0000

Hi Mark!
Thanks for your comment! I'm glad to help, and if you wouldn't mind, I
would be interested in seeing your paper when it is finished =).

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Sid Savara — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:25:22 -0000

Hello Sonia,
Thanks for your comment and question! I have not personally contacted
Harvard.

From what I was able to gather the story originally was Yale, and then later
other speakers started referring to Harvard instead. Yale was contacted,
and provided a response on their website as well, which I linked to above =)

Re: Fact or Fiction? The Truth About The Harvard Written Goal Study

Mark Sorenson — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:30:15 -0000

Thanks for the research. I am writing a paper on team motivation and wanted to reference the Yale study I had hear in countless seminars on team building, etc. I am glad to see that setting goals really does help you to be more successful thanks to the Dominican University. I guess I'll have to use that reference instead. Thanks again!