Here’s how to stay motivated in 2021, no matter what happens
By: Neil Morelli
Tags: Goals, Job Search, Motivation

As 2020 wraps up, it’s easy to feel out of control. Despite the stock market and a few companies living in an alternate reality, there’s still plenty of uncertainty about what the economy will be like in 2021.

Although you might want to, you can’t control whether the economy bounces back completely in 2021 or things worsen, but one thing you can control is how you stay motivated.

Staying motivated can often be easier said than done, especially if you’ve been laid off, aren’t being called back by recruiters, or can’t seem to find a job that checks all of the boxes.

But, a theory of human motivation offers practical steps to help you succeed no matter what happens.

How to Be Successful in Any Economy

It’s called goal setting theory. Although work psychologists have studied it for decades, citing it in over 12,000 research studies, you’ve probably seen it go by a different name: SMART goals.

Consultants and business gurus love to talk about ‘SMART’ goals — or goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time-bound.

And while ‘SMART goals’ have become a corporate meme recently, they’re actually based on sound science. The research shows that setting specific, achievable, yet aspirational goals can help you persevere in tough times, stay focused on what matters, and ultimately be successful in any economy.

One poignant example was from a 2012 study that looked at how people’s career and educational goals related to the amount of time they spent unemployed during the Great Recession.

Researchers accessed a survey that tracked the career goals and backgrounds of over 1,000 high school freshmen from 1988 to 2009, to see how these students turned out as adults, 21 years later, in the midst of the Great Recession.

What they discovered was fascinating.

Young people who made more aspirational goals, and felt more certainty about those goals, spent less time unemployed during the Great Recession.

Even more astonishing: this relationship between goals and time spent unemployed held after controlling for school achievement or personal background!

In other words, having specific, aspirational goals helped people “weather the economic storm,” regardless of whether they achieved much in school or had a good (or bad) upbringing.

Obviously we can’t go back in time and tell our 15 year-old selves to wake up before noon and write down aspirational goals, but this study shows how we can succeed, even if the economy continues to go south.

How to Weather Our Current Economic Storm

If “specific and ambitious goals” are the secret to becoming and staying employed through an economic downturn as severe as the Great Recession, how do you set goals that are specific and ambitious?

1. Choose 1–2 long term goals (it’s OK if they’re vague).

Set goals that are general and far enough in the future that they allow you to stay flexible in your decision-making.

What a minute, don’t we want to set specific goals? Yes, but having 1 or 2 longer term, more aspirational goals helps you think creatively about professional development and be opportunistic with jobs that might seem ‘off plan.’

For example, say that you set the goal of wanting to “work in a digital marketing role for a medium-sized business over the next 2–3 years.”

Not super specific, right?

Well, this goal could be aspirational enough to keep you motivated towards a higher level dream and help you set more specific, short term goals that are actionable, such as sourcing medium-sized companies that may employ digital marketers or taking online classes that develop digital marketing skills.

Not only that, having general, longer term goals opens your mind to jobs that you might not have considered before, but help you create forward momentum in the right direction.

2. Set goals as soon as you can.

Our Great Recession study shows that those who set good goals as high school students had more time to achieve those goals. Not only did they achieve more, these successes started to stack on one another.

Achieving more in college turned into a more prestigious job out of college, which led to achieving loftier goals earlier in their careers, which led to more resilience during the recession.

It’s like investing in the stock market. Having a longer time horizon allows you to weather dips in the market (like the one we’re experiencing now!) and lets goals compound on one another so that they’re more effective together than they are individually.

The take-away? Don’t procrastinate, start setting goals now so they can add up, even if you’re well past high school!

3. Set specific goals that bring more certainty.

This tip can lead you to a mental catch 22: “I can’t set specific goals because I’m not certain about my goals, and I’m not certain about my goals because I’m not being specific.”

Does this sound like you? That’s ok!

So, let’s go back to the example long term goal of becoming a digital marketer. With this in mind, ask yourself: What kind of company would you prefer? What types of projects would you want to work on?

Start asking yourself all of the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions.

Answering these questions helps you be more specific with short term goals and feel more certain about them as a result. The research shows that having certainty about your goals accomplishes two things:

It helps direct your behavior towards the things that matter. It keeps you motivated to achieve those goals.

So start right now! Once you’ve set 1–2 ambitious, long term goals and at least one ,specific short term goal, ask yourself, “What does the next immediate step towards these goals look like?” or “What should I start doing this week to work towards my short term goal(s)?”

It might take a little time, but I know you can do it! And your future self, 21 years from now, will thank you!

Are you thinking about or in the midst of a job search and are struggling to set good goals OR you have some good goals in mind and are wondering what to do next? Please check out my Scientific Job Search Guide .

It will walk you through what to do step-by-step so you can build momentum in your job search and get pointed in the right direction!

What are some of your goals? Help each other out by including some goals below to give some examples!

Source: Vuolo, Mortimer, & Staff, 2012