Branchoria Better Habits Better Habits

Evidence-led ways to turn worthwhile intentions into repeatable everyday behaviour.

Within Learning Goals

What Should Beginners Try to Discover First?

A strategy discovery goal directs beginner effort toward finding workable methods before demanding a high performance result.

121 sources 3 graphics
Preview for What Should Beginners Try to Discover First?

On this page

  • What counts as a useful task strategy
  • Setting a specific strategy discovery target
  • Evaluating which discovered strategies actually help

Introduction

For a beginner facing an unfamiliar, complex task, a useful first goal is often not “perform brilliantly” but discover several workable ways of doing the task well. This is a strategy discovery goal: a specific learning target that directs attention towards finding, testing and implementing task-relevant methods before demanding a high outcome. Goal-setting researchers Gerard Seijts and Gary Latham describe this as shifting attention from the end result to the strategies and processes capable of producing it.[Academy of Management Journals]journals.aom.orgAcademy of Management JournalsLearning versus performance goals: When should each be used? | Academy of Management PerspectivesFebruary 1…

Find Strategies illustration 1
Explanatory illustration 1

That distinction matters because complexity changes what effort can accomplish. When a beginner does not yet know how to succeed, greater persistence with a weak method may simply produce more weak attempts. Experiments with scheduling tasks, business simulations and novice surgical training instead suggest a different route: make strategy acquisition itself the immediate target, use performance as evidence about whether those strategies work, and only later give the outcome target greater prominence.[sagepub.com]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsThe Effect of Learning versus Outcome Goals on a Simple versus a Complex Task - Dawn Winters, Gary P. Latham, 1996…

What counts as a useful task strategy?

A strategy is more than an intention to concentrate, practise or “try harder”. It is a repeatable way of approaching some consequential part of the task: a procedure, decision rule, sequence, information-gathering method or technique that changes how the work is performed. Research on complex-task performance distinguishes strategy identification, selection and implementation precisely because knowing that a method exists is not the same as choosing it appropriately or carrying it out successfully.[Taylor & Francis Online]tandfonline.comTaylor & Francis OnlineGoal Levels, Complex Tasks, and Strategy Development: A Review and Analysis: Human Performance: Vol 4, No 1Novembe…

Imagine someone learning to conduct a difficult client interview. “Be more confident” is not much of a strategy. “Begin with broad questions, note unexplained claims, then use follow-up questions to test each one” is closer to one because the learner can actually apply and evaluate it. Likewise, a beginner learning data analysis might discover that checking variable definitions before choosing a statistical method prevents a recurring class of errors. The useful discovery is not merely a fact about the subject; it is knowledge that changes what the learner does.

This is why a strategy discovery goal should not be confused with a vague instruction to learn. Seijts and Latham’s account of learning goals explicitly centres the discovery of effective strategies or processes. In a 2001 class-scheduling experiment involving 96 participants, the number of task-relevant strategies discovered was positively associated with performance, while a specific, difficult learning goal outperformed an instruction merely to do one’s best. Strategy development also helped explain the relationship between self-efficacy and performance.[Wiley Online Library]onlinelibrary.wiley.comWiley Online LibraryThe effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task - Seijts - 2001 - Journal of…

The distinction appeared earlier in Winters and Latham’s experiment with 114 business students. On a straightforward scheduling task, an outcome goal worked well. When the task became complex enough to require knowledge acquisition, however, participants given a learning goal performed better and used more effective task strategies than those assigned either an outcome goal or a do-your-best instruction.[Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsThe Effect of Learning versus Outcome Goals on a Simple versus a Complex Task - Dawn Winters, Gary P. Latham, 1996…

So the practical test for a discovered strategy is not whether it sounds clever. It should be specific enough to execute, relevant to an important part of the task, and capable of being tested against feedback.

What Are Learning Goals Vs Performance Goals? - Social Success Club

Channel: Social Success Club

Open on YouTube

Set a strategy discovery target, not just an intention to learn

“Learn how to do this” leaves a beginner with almost as much ambiguity as “do your best”. A strategy discovery goal makes the learning target observable. It can take forms such as:

  • discover and test three ways to identify the most important information before making a decision;
  • identify four techniques that reduce recurring errors, then use each on a fresh attempt;
  • find three different approaches to the hardest stage of the task and record when each works;
  • identify five task-relevant strategies, implement them, and retain those that improve subsequent attempts.

The numbers are not universal prescriptions. Their value is that they turn an abstract ambition into a search target. Experimental research has explicitly operationalised learning goals in terms of the number of unique, task-relevant strategies participants were asked to identify and implement. In a study of 146 participants, Latham, Seijts and Crim varied the difficulty of such learning goals and found that higher learning-goal levels were associated with better performance; cognitive ability and commitment also mattered.[Rotman School of Management]www-2.rotman.utoronto.caRotman School of Management Canadian Journal of Behavioural ScienceRotman School of ManagementCanadian Journal of Behavioural ScienceNovember 29, 2025…Published: November 29, 2025

That finding should not be converted into the simplistic rule that “more strategies are always better”. The target needs to stimulate meaningful exploration rather than strategy collecting for its own sake. The object is to discover effective methods. A beginner who lists ten superficial tips but never tests them has not accomplished the important part of the goal.

There is also a useful distinction between discovering and implementing. A learner can read about a good method without becoming capable of using it. The 2001 scheduling study is instructive because it examined task-relevant strategies actually implemented, not merely ideas participants could name. Participants assigned a learning goal together with proximal goals implemented more task-relevant strategies than those in the other goal conditions.[Wiley Online Library]onlinelibrary.wiley.comWiley Online LibraryThe effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task - Seijts - 2001 - Journal of…

A strong strategy discovery target therefore contains an action verb that goes beyond exposure: identify and test, discover and implement, compare and refine. That wording keeps the target attached to actual task behaviour.

Find Strategies illustration 2
Explanatory illustration 2

Why strategy search can outperform harder striving

The mechanism is largely about where limited attention goes. On a familiar task, a difficult performance goal can encourage greater effort and persistence because the performer already possesses plausible methods. On an unfamiliar complex task, the missing resource may instead be procedural knowledge. Seijts and Latham argue that a learning goal redirects attention towards acquiring that knowledge rather than continually comparing present performance with a demanding outcome.[Academy of Management Journals]journals.aom.orgAcademy of Management JournalsLearning versus performance goals: When should each be used? | Academy of Management PerspectivesFebruary 1…

This can prevent a common beginner failure mode: treating every disappointing result as evidence that more effort is required. If the method is poor, extra effort does not necessarily repair it. Strategy discovery changes the question from “How can I push harder?” to “What could I do differently on the next attempt?”

There is evidence that this change affects more than reported motivation. In a randomised study of 90 third-year medical students, nearly all of whom had little or no previous experience with the relevant techniques, learners given learning goals performed better at knot tying and suturing than those given performance goals. They also reported significantly greater task engagement and metacognition — the planning, monitoring and evaluation of one’s own approach to the task.[PubMed]pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govDifferent Goals, Different Pathways: The Role of Metacognition and Task Engagement in Surgical Skill Acquisition - PubMed…

That provides a plausible picture of what strategy discovery looks like psychologically. Instead of simply attempting the procedure and asking whether the final result was good enough, the novice attends to how the attempt was made, notices where the method broke down and considers an alternative for the next attempt. The immediate objective is still connected to eventual performance; it simply targets a mechanism the beginner can improve directly.

How to tell which discovered strategies actually help

Strategy discovery is useful only if discovery is followed by discrimination. Beginners can invent ineffective methods as readily as effective ones, and an approach that works once may have benefited from easier circumstances or chance. The goal therefore needs a feedback loop.

A practical cycle is discover → apply → observe → compare → retain or revise. The learner identifies a plausible method, uses it on a real attempt, observes relevant consequences, and decides whether the evidence justifies continuing with it. Research on self-regulated learning similarly treats planning, strategy use, monitoring and adaptation as recursive rather than one-off stages.[ScienceDirect]sciencedirect.comShallow strategy development in a teachable agent environment designed to support self-regulated learning - ScienceDirect…

Performance measures still have an important role here. The distinction is not “learning instead of measuring results”. Rather, results become feedback about the strategy instead of the beginner’s primary demand. A writer testing a new outlining method can compare structural revisions afterwards. A novice programmer experimenting with breaking a problem into smaller functions can examine error rates and debugging time. A new presenter trying different rehearsal techniques can compare fluency, timing and recall.

Reflection can strengthen this evaluation step. In an experiment involving 140 participants completing a complex decision-making simulation, both challenging learning goals and a reflection intervention supported learning, while reflection strengthened the positive performance effect of the learning goals.[Macquarie University]researchers.mq.edu.auOpen source on edu.au. That makes reflection useful when it is concrete: What did I change? What happened? Under what conditions did it help? What should I repeat or alter next time?

Three tests are especially useful when judging a candidate strategy:

  1. Does performance improve when it is used? Look for improvement in the part of the task the strategy is supposed to affect, rather than relying solely on a vague feeling that the attempt went better.
  2. Can the method be repeated? One successful attempt is weak evidence. Repeated usefulness across comparable attempts gives greater reason to retain it.
  3. Can the learner explain when and why it helps? A strategy may be useful only under certain conditions. Discovering those conditions is itself valuable task knowledge.

This prevents strategy discovery from degenerating into constant novelty. The aim is not to change methods indefinitely but to move from uncertainty towards a small repertoire of increasingly dependable approaches.

HOP Nation Podcast - Episode 13 - Gary Latham, Professor of Org. Excellence, University of Toronto

Channel: HOP Nation Podcast

Open on YouTube

Specificity helps, but there are limits

The evidence does not support an unconditional rule that every complex task should receive a highly specific learning goal. Much of the classic evidence concerns individuals performing controlled tasks, and findings do not automatically generalise to every setting.

Team research provides an important counterexample. In an experiment using interdependent command-and-control simulations, teams given specific learning goals performed worse than teams with general learning goals or specific performance goals; increasing task complexity amplified the disadvantage, with coordination helping to explain the effect.[ScienceDirect]sciencedirect.comOpen source on sciencedirect.com. A strategy target that usefully focuses one beginner’s attention can create additional coordination demands when several people must jointly interpret and pursue it.

Nor should strategy discovery continue after it has stopped solving the learner’s main problem. Winters and Latham’s simple-task condition points in the opposite direction from their complex-task condition: when participants did not need substantial new knowledge to perform effectively, the outcome goal produced better results than the alternatives.[Sage Journals]journals.sagepub.comSage JournalsThe Effect of Learning versus Outcome Goals on a Simple versus a Complex Task - Dawn Winters, Gary P. Latham, 1996… The case for strategy discovery is therefore conditional on task complexity relative to the learner’s current knowledge, not on beginner status as a permanent identity.

Broader evidence supports that boundary. A meta-analysis of experimentally induced motivational states found an overall performance advantage for learning over performance goals but indicated that the advantage may be concentrated in relatively complex tasks.[PubMed]pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPub Med Performance effects of motivational state: a meta-analysisPub Med Performance effects of motivational state: a meta-analysis The useful question is consequently not “Are learning goals better than performance goals?” but “What is preventing better performance at this stage?”

Learning Goals vs. Performance Goals

Channel: Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP

Open on YouTube

When discovery has done its job

A strategy discovery goal has succeeded when the beginner no longer approaches the task as an undifferentiated problem. They can identify several consequential methods, apply them deliberately, recognise important conditions under which they work, and use feedback to correct them.

At that point, continued strategy searching can have diminishing value. The learner increasingly needs to execute known methods accurately, fluently and consistently. Performance goals can then become more useful because the path between effort and outcome is less mysterious. Goal-setting theory’s practical distinction is therefore developmental: learning goals are particularly appropriate when knowledge and skill acquisition are the immediate bottleneck; performance goals become more appropriate when effective ways of performing are already available.[Academy of Management Journals]journals.aom.orgAcademy of Management JournalsLearning versus performance goals: When should each be used? | Academy of Management PerspectivesFebruary 1…

For self-improvement, that creates a more productive definition of early progress on a difficult new task. The first win does not have to be an impressive score. It can be discovering what actually works. A beginner who finishes an early practice period with three tested, repeatable strategies may have made more consequential progress than one who strained to reach an arbitrary performance number without learning how the result was produced.

Find Strategies illustration 3
Explanatory illustration 3

Amazon book picks

Further Reading

Books and field guides related to What Should Beginners Try to Discover First?. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.

Browse more on Amazon:Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your CareerPeak: Secrets from the New Science of ExpertiseMake It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

eBay marketplace picks

Marketplace Samples

Live-tested eBay searches with available results related to this page.

UsingUSA

Selected frommotivational wall art oneBay.co.uk.

Browse more oneBay.co.uk

Example items shown for inspiration; availability and pricing can change. Branchoria may earn a commission if you purchase through outbound eBay links.

Endnotes

1. Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.70

Source snippet

Wiley Online LibraryThe effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task - Seijts - 2001 - Journal of...

2. Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/job.70

Source snippet

Wiley Online LibraryThe effect of distal learning, outcome, and proximal goals on a moderately complex task - Seijts - 2001 - Journal of...

3. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1931720415002160

Source snippet

Different Goals, Different Pathways: The Role of Metacognition and Task Engagement in Surgical Skill Acquisition - ScienceDi...

4. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512002734

Source snippet

Shallow strategy development in a teachable agent environment designed to support self-regulated learning - ScienceDirect...

5. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597813000423

6. Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jee.20588

7. Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jee.20588

8. Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781394320769.ch5

9. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002961016306523

10. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886915300933

11. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002961015005978

12. Source: sciencedirect.com
Title: The effect of priming learning vs. performance goals on a complex task
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597814000508

13. Source: sciencedirect.com
Title: Knowing when to set learning versus performance goals
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0090261611000751

14. Source: sciencedirect.com
Title: Preoperative Learning Goals Set by Surgical Residents and Faculty
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002248041100059X

15. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X0400061X

16. Source: onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Link:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/%28SICI%291099-1379%28199907%2920%3A4%3C421%3A%3AAID-JOB896%3E3.0.CO%3B2-%23

17. Source: sciencedirect.com
Title: Goal Setting Theory
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/goal-setting-theory

18. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131512002734

19. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563208002215

20. Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360131510002940

21. Source: journals.aom.org
Link:https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/ame.2005.15841964

Source snippet

Academy of Management JournalsLearning versus performance goals: When should each be used? | Academy of Management PerspectivesFebruary 1...

22. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Title: Sage Journals Distinguished Scholar Invited Essay
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1548051816641874

Source snippet

Sage JournalsDistinguished Scholar Invited Essay - Gary P. Latham, Gerard H. Seijts, 2016...

23. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1059601196212007

Source snippet

Sage JournalsThe Effect of Learning versus Outcome Goals on a Simple versus a Complex Task - Dawn Winters, Gary P. Latham, 1996...

24. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26395402/

Source snippet

Different Goals, Different Pathways: The Role of Metacognition and Task Engagement in Surgical Skill Acquisition - PubMed...

25. Source: tandfonline.com
Link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327043hup0401_1

Source snippet

Taylor & Francis OnlineGoal Levels, Complex Tasks, and Strategy Development: A Review and Analysis: Human Performance: Vol 4, No 1Novembe...

26. Source: www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca
Title: Rotman School of Management Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science
Link:https://www-2.rotman.utoronto.ca/facbios/file/31%20-%20Latham%2C%20Seijts%2C%20%26%20Crim%20CJBS%202008.pdf

Source snippet

Rotman School of ManagementCanadian Journal of Behavioural ScienceNovember 29, 2025...

Published: November 29, 2025

27. Source: researchers.mq.edu.au
Link:https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/how-a-reflection-intervention-improves-the-effect-of-learning-goa/

28. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Title: Pub Med Performance effects of motivational state: a meta-analysis
Link:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15647124/

29. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Title: Sage Journals Performance Effects of Motivational State: A Meta-Analysis
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1207/s15327957pspr0102_4

30. Source: doi.org
Link:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-026-09807-1

31. Source: tandfonline.com
Link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01443410.2026.2655882

32. Source: doi.org
Link:https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2024.2420818

33. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10525629241291234

34. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551661/

35. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551661/?report=reader

36. Source: doi.org
Link:https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2021.1901298

37. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7606790/

38. Source: tandfonline.com
Link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17437199.2019.1706616

39. Source: journals.aom.org
Link:https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/ambpp.2016.11095abstract

40. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1548051816641874

41. Source: doi.org
Link:https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302264

42. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1534484312439055

43. Source: doi.org
Title: Motivate Employee Performance through Goal Setting
Link:https://doi.org/10.1002%2F9781119206422.ch9

44. Source: tandfonline.com
Link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08959285.2011.580807

45. Source: tandfonline.com
Link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08959285.2011.580807

46. Source: journals.aom.org
Link:https://journals.aom.org/doi/pdf/10.5465/ame.2005.15841964

47. Source: journals.aom.org
Link:https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/ame.2005.15841964

48. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059601196212007

49. Source: journals.sagepub.com
Link:https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1059601196212007

50. Source: independent.academia.edu
Title: Gerard Seijts
Link:https://independent.academia.edu/GerardSeijts

51. Source: teaching.utoronto.ca
Title: ca Designing for Strategy Development (Guideline 6)
Link:https://teaching.utoronto.ca/teaching-uoft-udl/udl-practice/designing-strategy-development/

52. Source: highleveragepractices.org
Link:https://highleveragepractices.org/four-areas-practice-k-12/instruction

Additional References

53. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiBne5EGBQ8

Source snippet

"Learning goals" "Gary Latham" OR "Gerard Seijts" Goal Setting Theory Explained! 🎯 WOOP Method & The Science of Achieving Difficult Goals 🔥...

54. Source: youtube.com
Title: What Are Learning Goals Vs Performance Goals?
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qt_XH9UyOE

Source snippet

Skill Mastery & Peak Performance via Deliberate Practice with Psychologist Anders Ericsson...

55. Source: youtube.com
Title: HOP Nation Podcast
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVMIgWhvbA

Source snippet

The New Science of Expertise: Anders Ericsson...

56. Source: youtube.com
Title: Learning Goals vs. Performance Goals
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUQksEepPlc

Source snippet

HOP Nation Podcast - Episode 13 - Gary Latham, Professor of Org. Excellence, University of Toronto...

57. Source: youtube.com
Title: The New Science of Expertise: Anders Ericsson
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1feChwxfzoY

Source snippet

What Are Learning Goals Vs Performance Goals? - Social Success Club...

58. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299646596_Distinguished_Scholar_Invited_Essay_Similarities_and_Differences_Among_Performance_Behavioral_and_Learning_Goals

59. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320609499_Goal_Setting_and_Goal_Orientation_An_Integration_of_Two_Different_yet_Related_Literatures

60. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229912344_Goal-Setting_A_State_Theory_but_Related_to_Traits

61. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284621413_Learning_versus_performance_goals_When_should_each_be_used

62. Source: researchgate.net
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280081888_Task_Complexity_as_a_Moderator_of_Goal_Effects_A_Meta-Analysis