Is Your Motivation Wavering? A Coaching App Might Help
WIRED March 11, 2022
Choosing an app to help you reach your goals can be tricky. Here’s how to find one that gets results.
I WAS ALREADY familiar with the mechanics of goal setting when I began using Noom, a weight loss app, to prep for my daughter’s wedding. My graduate work in psychology focused on goal setting, so I knew goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based).
“Trying to lose weight” isn’t a SMART goal because it isn’t specific or time-based, but “losing 1 pound a week for five weeks” is. But I’d stopped setting specific, attainable goals during the decades-long crush of parenting and career. I didn’t expect to be moved by a weekly text from a virtual coach and was surprised to feel compelled to respond to her goal request. Once my goal was announced, I felt driven to meet it. How did my coach’s simple text help me change?
Effective coaching programs incorporate goal-setting principles with other techniques to help users achieve their targets. Rhonda Gutenberg, a leadership consultant and coach, says, “One reason coaching works is because it holds you accountable.” A primary difference between setting goals and achieving them is “being held accountable by a coach or boss who has expectations” for completion.
