Success mantra: Record your progress to attain your goals

Whether you are trying to wrap up before a deadline, or are on a tight leash, the more frequently you monitor progress, the greater the chances of attaining your goal, suggests new research.

If you report your progress publicly or physically record it, the chances of success get even greater, said the study.

The researchers conducted an analysis of 138 studies comprising 19,951 participants that looked at the effectiveness of an intervention or treatment designed to prompt participants to monitor their goal progress.

The studies focused primarily on personal health goals such as losing weight, quitting smoking, changing diet or lowering blood pressure.

They found that prompting participants to monitor their progress towards a goal increased the likelihood that the participants would achieve that goal.

Furthermore, the more frequent the monitoring, the greater the chance of success.

Additional analysis revealed that monitoring progress had an even greater effect if the information was physically recorded or publicly reported.

The study appeared in the journal Psychological Bulletin.

(With inputs from IANS)