Friday Mindset #176

Happy Friday!

No time to lose, let’s dive in.

Something we're reading...

This article, from The Guardian, caught our attention a couple of Sundays ago. It’s definitely one to read with students at KS4 or 5 - an interesting exploration of a study about the likelihood of sticking to challenging personal goals.

The piece outlines the difference between intrinsically motivating goals - where the process of pursuing the goal is in itself a positive experience, and the outcome is less important - and extrinsically motivating goals - where the process of pursuit is challenging, often unpleasant, but the outcome is highly desirable.

Which type of goal leads to greater commitment? Well, the clue’s in the article-title.

OK, so there’s a number of irritating adverts cluttering the screen in the online version, so we’ve also trimmed the piece so it fits on 2 sides of A4, and turned it into a handy, ad-free pdf for you.

The piece itself is here:

And here’s your ad-free version:

Finally, if you fancy reading the research Robson’s article references, it’s led by Kaitlin Wolley (Cornell University) and it’s here. Click the ‘pdf’ button on the right:

(Subscribers, you’re about to get a powerpoint breaking the study down and explaining it for students, with some suggestions for how they might set better study goals for 2026…)

Portal Talk...

Just a quick reminder for Friday Mindset subscribers — you can still claim 1 free cycle of the VESPA Questionnaire.

Demos are booking up fast and we’ve got no availability next week, so if you’d like to use the offer, please make sure you book your demo before February half-term.

Book a demo using the link below and we’ll include:

• 1 FREE VESPA Questionnaire cycle (up to 100 students)

• Trial access to the Coaching Portal so you can test-drive the coaching process with real students — in real tutor time — when it matters most

Key details

• Questionnaire must be completed by 30 March 2026 (pre-Easter)

• One free cycle per school

• Max 100 students for the free cycle

If you want tutor time to produce more than “good luck everyone”… this is a great moment to try a simple structure that genuinely shifts mindset and behaviour.

Book your demo here:

Something to try...

OK, the Kaitlin Woolley goal-setting study from above, in detail!

The powerpoint takes you through exactly how the study worked - including the questionnaire participants took. This means you could get your kids to reflect on a goal they have, and take the questionnaire themselves. (It’s a simple six-question one which gives you some immediate, very simple feedback to discuss, and introduces the two types of goal.)

And you’ll end with five suggestions for how to make study goals more intrinsically motivating…

Subscribe to our premium content to read the rest.