Yes, a single step. But what happens before that first step? Does that matter? You bet. Scientists have found that the simple act of declaring your intention to travel 1000 miles—the act of setting a goal—can have a critical impact on whether you complete the journey.

To understand the how goals affect performance, let’s consider two fictional people. We’ll call the first Sally Weight-loss. The second is named Sally Weight-gain (amazingly, they are both named Sally). Sally Weight-loss and Sally Weight-gain meet at the gym one day and strike up a conversation. Turns out, this is the first trip either of them has taken to the gym in a long time, and both want to work out more in order to lose weight. Sally Weight-gain says that she came to the gym because she her doctor recommend she exercise more often. Sally Weight-loss, who is a bit of a self-promoter, says that she has developed a plan to lose 5 pounds over the next 6 weeks, and she is going to work out 18 times. One has a goal; one does not. So what is the difference?

According to scientists, setting a goal serves four essential purposes:

• Goals focus attention on a task
• Goals inspire energy to complete a task
• Goals affect the persistence applied to the task
• Goals awaken relevant knowledge related to the task

So as a result of setting a goal, Sally Weight-loss is more likely to apply effort toward working out. She stands a greater chance of having the energy to work out. As long as the goal remains attainable, she is more likely to show persistence. And to top it off, she is likely to think of ideas that will help her workout out more often and more effectively.

One thing to consider, and pay close attention to this point, is that in study after study, scientists have found that the fruits of goal setting are highly dependent on the level of commitment to the goal. All the great rewards Sally Weight-loss is likely to reap as a result of setting a goal will never materialize without commitment to the goal. So on your next journey, the first step is the most important, but remembers to set your goal, a goal you are committed to, before taking that step.

We are proud to report more than 2000 people have signed up to use Goalmigo.  This is a great accomplishment, and comes only a month after the public launch of the site. We are so excited that Goalmigo is now helping literally thousands of people reach their goals. Please let us know if you have any feedback, and we hope everyone continues to enjoy the site.

Scientist studying goal-setting have found that the common phrase “Do your best,” doesn’t work. Rather, optimal performance comes from setting specific, challenging goals.

The reason “do your best” goals fail is because they have no external reference point. “Best” is in the eye of the beholder and that’s like holding a competition where the participants judge themselves. There’s a mountain of bias when a person engages in self-ratings.

By contrast, a clearly-defined goal with a measurable outcome isn’t subject to the self-judgment flaw. Externally benchmarked goals provide people an unchanging performance target. How much more motivating is “run one more mile to reach my goal” than “run as much as I can”? So on Goalmigo, when setting a goal, be sure to give yourself specific, external reference points for motivation.

For more on goal-setting research, check out this paper: Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation.

Goalmigo was founded on the principle that your friends have a powerful influence on your goals. A fascinating new study by Harvard researcher, Nicholas Christakis, reinforces this principle—with evidence. Christakis shows how influential an individual’s social circle is on their weight.

Let’s take a look at the numbers. If an individual’s spouse becomes obese, the likelihood of that person becoming obese increases 37%. If an individual’s sibling becomes obese, the likelihood of that person becoming obese rises 40%. But get this. If the mutual friend of an individual becomes obese, the likelihood of that individual becoming obese jumps a whopping 171%. That is simply staggering. This data demonstrates that while obesity may be developed by an individual, it spreads like an epidemic. Of course, the data are also a strong endorsement of the power of getting your friends involved in your goals.

For more information on the article, check out this Washington Post article.

We are excited to announce that Goalmigo has officially launched! Now the fun starts…

Here is the press release:

Announcing Goalmigo, a Social Website to Help You Achieve Your Goals

Lose weight, learn a foreign language, and write a book with the help of Goalmigo

Atlanta, GA – July 25, 2007 – Goalmigo.com, a new social website that motivates people to reach their goals, launches today. The website offers a complete online system for setting, tracking, sharing, and achieving goals.

Goalmigo applies proven techniques for achieving goals in three straightforward steps:

• Define your goal – Goalmigo makes it effortless to define what you want to achieve, how you will get there, and when you will finish.
• Involve friends and family – Goalmigo’s system for involving friends and family as “supporters” offers a boost in motivation by providing a source of accountability. Supporters receive weekly updates on how you are doing and can offer encouragement and advice.
• Track your progress – Each goal receives its own webpage (that you can make private) where you can write updates and log your progress.

“The strength of Goalmigo comes from the fact that it bolsters offline relationships—relationships with the people you already know—in order to help you achieve your goals,” says the founder of Goalmigo, Christopher Cummings.

Goalmigo’s system for achieving goals offers users the flexibility to pursue all types of goals, from getting fit, to learning a foreign language, to writing a book.

For more information about Goalmigo, visit http://www.Goalmigo.com.

About Goalmigo
Goalmigo is a social website that motivates people to reach their goals. The website offers a complete online system for setting, tracking, sharing, and achieving goals. Goalmigo is the flagship product of Curiosity Media, a web design and development firm based in Atlanta, GA.

Press Contact: goalmigopress@gmail.com

We rolled out a new feature today that will allow you to embed images, links, and videos in the comments on Goals and in the Group forums. We are really excited about this feature. It’s a great way to add more personality to the goals and groups. We hope to see some great progress and completion pictures for your goals!

Today, we opened Goalmigo to friends and family, and to celebrate we threw a little party. Good times and great food were had by all. Click on the link to this post to see a few pictures from the party.

Last night we moved Goalmigo to a blazin’ fast new server. We ran some benchmarks to compare it to the old server and the website now loads 70% faster! Hope you enjoy.

Goalmigo is stacked with features, some of which you may not have seen yet. Here are three cool features that can help you get more out of Goalmigo:

Personalized, private RSS feeds
When you sign up for Goalmigo, a personalized, private RSS feed is created so you can easily keep track of the comments made on your goals and the goals you are supporting. Because the feed includes comments from your private goals, it’s only visible to you. You can grab the feed when you’re on your profile page.

Customized tracking logs
One of the most important principals in achieving your goals is tracking your progress. Goalmigo makes it easy to write progress updates. We also makes it simple to track hard numbers (weight, workout time, books read, etc.). A few example tracking logs are shown when you create your goal. Don’t see exactly what you want? No problem. You can create you’re own customized tracking log. Track your progress the way you want to.

Groups of people with similar interests
While working toward you’re goals, be sure to check out the Groups section on Goalmigo. Here you can find people with common goals, share tips, and find that great piece of advice that will help you keep going. Groups can be created for anything. Share your passion. Create a group today and invite your friends.

Keep working toward your goals!

Greetings fair visitor!

I am Christopher Cummings and I am the creator of Goalmigo. I am thrilled that you are reading this blog. Goalmigo has been a labor of love for a long time, and it gives me great pleasure to know that people are using the site.

Goalmigo is an idea that came to me while running my first marathon. Throughout training, I could see the power of two principals for setting goals:

• Share your goals with your friends - They will provide tips, support, and most of all, encouragement to help you complete your goal
• Track your progress - This will provide internal motivation, as you will be able to see how you are moving closer to your goal over time

These two principals are not high-tech. They have been at the core of successful people, projects, and organizations for ages. The role of Goalmigo is to make it easy to practice these tried-and-true principles. Ultimately, this will help more people achieve their goals.

If you have ideas, suggestions, or feedback to help make Goalmigo better, please send us an email and let us know. We love to hear from people that are using the site.

Best of luck with your goals!
Christopher