Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 1

Unattainable Long-Term Goals through the Application of Positive and

Motivational Psychology

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Pubrica

sales@pubrica.com

I. INTRODUCTION

Positive psychology is the study of the

positive aspects of human experience, which

make life worth living or the "good life". As

an art, it reflects on well-being both societal

and individual well-being.Motivation is

essential to many aspects of our lives. This

is dynamic and pervasive in its breadth and

underpins the way we view and handle one

another. Motivation is more important in

determining our achievements than

ability.Success in any aspect of life is a

psychological process, determined by our

mental attitude, i.e. our motivation. An

awareness of motivation, particularly the

critical requirements for optimum success,

offers an essential and unifying emphasis for

those involved in Positive Psychology,

learning and teaching or organizational and

personal growth.Numerous constructs have

been correlated with psychological concepts

in particular entities, such as self-regulation,

autonomy, mastery, persistence, self-

efficacy, perceived control and goals. Each

of these constructions encompasses one or

more unique motivating and behavior

facets(Knecht & Freund, 2017). Models of

motivational self-regulation help researchers

to recognize the main regulatory obstacles

across various phases of the goal

pursuit(Heckhausen et al., 2019).

II. WHAT POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

FOCUSES ON IN BRIEF?

The emphasis of positive psychology

is on the influences in lifeand positive

events,including:

1. Positive institutions (Positive standards

are implemented to both organizations

and entities).

2. Positive experiences (love, inspiration,

joy and happiness).

3. Positive states and traits (compassion,

resilienceand gratitude).

Positive psychology, as a discipline,

invests most of its time thinking about topics

like elevation, hope, self-confidence and

self-esteem, compassion, gratitude, well-

being, happiness, life satisfaction and

optimism.

III. GOALS OF POSITIVE

PSYCHOLOGY

It may be a complicated business to

add motivational thinking to coaching, but it

is done with the highest possible thoughts

and compassion about others. In general, in

coaching the goals of positive psychology

are as follows:

To make a good effect on the customer's

life- this goal is above all others, and all

things implicitly feed into this goal. The

primary purpose in coaching is to

improve the life of the person.

Support consumers know how to savour

any positive moment

Encourage the consumers to maintain an

optimistic outlook

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

Help the consumers build and maintain

healthy, positive relationships with other

Nurture a sense of gratitude in the

consumers;

Cultivate the consumer’s sense of

happiness and well-being

Build a sense of hope into the

consumer’s perspective

Enhance the consumer’s goal-setting and

goal-striving abilities

Help consumer’s identify and develop

their strengths and unique talents

Increase the consumer’s experience of

positive emotions.

IV. UNATTAINABLE LONG-TERM

GOALS

Sometimes goals are unattainable

through the application of positive and

motivational psychology. Individuals are at

risk of losing their standard of life in these

circumstances and will need to surrender the

unattainable target, preserve their mental

and motivating capital and invest in more

realistic goals. A common psychological

phenomenon is having a goal that cannot be

achieved.Unattainable goals may be met

throughout a person's existence for different

causes and at any stage.For example,

individuals can choose goals outside their

capacities, and will therefore never be

achieved orthey experience crucial life

events which render the pursuit of a target

impossible to continue. In addition, there are

life-course-related changes that, over time,

can render certain goals unattainable that

were at some point in an individual's life

realistic and achievable. To this end, life

span research has shown that opportunities

and resources for achieving personal

objectives show sharp declines as people

age. For instance, age-related biological

changes make women unable to bear

children after a certain age, and make it

difficult to maintain physical health levels

comparable to those experienced at young

adulthood. Societal prescriptions also place

normative constraints on the pursuit of

career- and family-related developmentally

timed goals.In addition, given the

occurrence of age-related declines in

personal resources, older adults may need to

focus their time and energy on pursuing the

most important goals, and thus may be

forced to abandon other, more peripheral,

goals.Thus, biological, societal, and personal

constraints may increase the likelihood of

older adults experiencing constraints to

pursue their personal goals.

V. UNATTAINABLE GOALS, PHYSICAL

HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL DISTRESS

Regardless about whether a goal can

no longer be achieved, achieving an

unattainable objective will produce an

problem with the quality of life of an

individual as inability to reach a desirable

result that is linked to the general sense of

identity of a person will induce high rates of

emotional distress(Wrosch, 2010). This

process is captured by theories of self-

regulation, which postulate that goal-related

processes are organized into feedback loops,

in which goals provide significant reference

values for the emotional experiences and

behaviors of a person. It has been proposed

that people ought to participate in proactive

self-regulation to prevent the negative

effects of target achievement on

psychological and physical wellbeing.

Various approaches to adaptive self-

regulation believe that two large types of

responses are involved in handling loss in

the pursuit of goals. One type of responses is

goal engagement processes, which aim to

resolve challenges by continuing to spend

time and energy to accomplish a threatened

goal.The second group attempts for the very

opposite outcome; that is, to drop the

threatened goal, to handle the negative

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

emotional effects of loss and to indulge in

more practical objectives.In conclusion,

there is increasing proof that positive

psychological properties contribute to

wellbeing and longevity. Helping people

develop healthy psychological and social

assets in life will contribute to easier, more

fulfilling and safer lives.

REFERENCES

[1] Heckhausen, J., Wrosch, C., & Schulz, R. (2019).

Agency and Motivation in Adulthood and Old Age.

Annual Review of Psychology, 70(1), 191–217.

https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-

103043

[2] Knecht, M., & Freund, A. M. (2017). The use of

selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) in

goal pursuit in the daily lives of middle-aged adults.

European Journal of Developmental Psychology,

14(3), 350–366.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17405

629.2016.1207518

[3] Wrosch, C. (2010). Self-Regulation of Unattainable

Goals and Pathways to Quality of Life. Oxford

University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195375343.01

3.0016