Scientific Instruments

Why not? We have already lowered our expectations in public schools so we do not leave anyone behind. Politicians seem to think it is working until they look at unemployment numbers. Heck, my wife lowered her expectations and we got married over 12 years ago and still going strong.

All jokes aside this seems like a topic that is brought up each year. Group "A" says make you goals more attainable and you will be more likely to succeed. Group "B" says keep your goals high so you have something to shoot for. Group "C" rides the fence and flip flops with each bit of new opinion based information. Groups "A" and "B" pull out scientific studies to support their opinions and ...

There is a fine line between having our goals too high and not high enough. If they are too high we may become discouraged and quit. If they are too low they aren't strong enough to motivate.

Whether we make and keep NYR's probably has little to do with them being too high or too low. It has more to do with our motivation for making some changes in how we operate in life. If I don't see a big enough reason to change, I won't regardless of the measuring stick (goal/s) I use.

"Psychologists suggest that by lowering our ambitions we stand a better chance of keeping our resolutions."

I don't think dumbing down our expectation of ourselves is useful. Maybe we just need to put on our "big boy pants" and do what we say we are going to do.