Smith, Patricia

Past research suggests that taking a process oriented approach, setting clear and concrete goals, and using both conscious planning and proactive coping are the best methods to be successful with goal pursuit. Also the literature has found that individuals scoring higher in general resourcefulness tend to be more successful at achieving goals than their less resourceful counterparts. My thesis looked at these goal pursuit behaviours under the lens of resourcefulness using a mixed methods approach. After completing Rosenbaum's self-control scale (1980) assessing general resourcefulness, participants took part in a semi-structured interview asking them about a recent goal they had set and how they dealt with interfering obstacles. The hope was hearing differences about how highly and less resourceful people discuss their goals and setbacks would give a deeper understanding about the characteristics of success. The themes emerging from the interviews were: blame and excuses versus understanding and growth, internal versus external factors, living in the moment versus conscious planning and magical versus realistic thinking. In contrast to low-scoring participants, highly resourceful individuals grew from their setbacks, were internally driven, consciously planned, and thought realistically about their goals. Less resourceful individual, on the other hand blamed outside factors and made excuses, were only motivated externally, didn't plan out their goals and believed their goals would just magically materialize over time. My discussion focuses on the ability to train lower resourceful individuals over longer interventions, and the applications of understanding and using resourcefulness as a lens in future studies.

Author Keywords: Goal, Habits, Quitting, Resourcefulness, Self-Control, Success