Negative Goals Repel Goals that contain negative targets are surprisingly common. Sometimes an authority like a parent or teacher imposed the goal on you. Other times the goal appears positive but contains hidden negatives. Negative goals put you in a conflict situation, because success is defined in terms of activities or changes you dislike. You will probably fail to achieve the goal because the picture it elicits repels you.
Some goals sound positive but contain hidden negative images.
The doctor with a goal of creating and implementing eight marketing strategies to increase clientele in her clinic, who finds self-promotion distasteful has a goal with hidden negatives. Goals such as these are easier to achieve when you find compelling images and restate the goal to elicit that image when you think of the goal. When Timelines help you bring the pieces together. Goals with no specific completion date make it difficult to set a timeline for completing action steps. Such open-ended goals undermine motivation and encourage procrastination.