There are sayings that advise us not to pay too much attention to progress: “a watched pot never boils”, for example. We’ve all experienced the phenomenon of time slowing down when you really want something to happen, especially when we were kids.

By contrast, one of the cornerstones of Brief Therapy is that of measuring movement towards a goal; understanding the progress you are making is not only motivating, it also helps to counter negative beliefs about failure and boost confidence.

I chanced upon a study by Benjamin Harkin and colleagues that supports this.  shows that if you want to change your behaviour, you are more likely to achieve your goals if you regularly monitor, and note, your progress.

And don’t keep it to yourself. Even though people often invoke not wanting to ‘tempt fate’ as a reason not to talk about partial success, the study shows that it actually helps to go public. As one of the authors explained “we recommend that people be encouraged to record, report or make public what they find out as they assess their progress.”

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