Goal progress has been consistently linked to subjective well-being and happiness (Klug & Maier, 2015), but do the individual actions of doing something helpful for personal goals have similar effects? The current study investigates how goal alignment-the perception that you are engaging in activities that are aligned with personal goals-might be associated with state happiness. We hypothesized that people will feel happier when the activities they are performing are aligned with their goals. The study also explored the roles of goal progress and competence in this relation. Data on goal-activity alignment, goal progress, competence, and state happiness were collected in an experience-sampling study with undergraduate students (N ϭ 159) and a survey study with Amazon MTurk workers (N ϭ 252). Using multilevel analyses and regression analyses, results indicated that participants were happier when they were pursuing activities that were more closely aligned with their goals than when pursuing less goal-aligned activities; the results remained significant after accounting for goal progress. Participants who were more goal aligned on average reported greater state happiness; this effect was nonsignificant when goal progress was accounted for. Results suggest that goal alignment has a significant and unique effect on state happiness and that goal pursuit has very immediate benefits that begin as soon as individuals start doing actions helpful for their personal goals.

Interest in self-care has risen in the past years with little direct research on the subject. This thesis sought to clarify the concrete behaviours that define self-care and the construct's potential impact on academic goal achievement. Three pilot studies (total n = 798) compiled a list of 12 self-care behaviours to represent the construct. Review of existing research suggest that these behaviours can impact physical and psychological well-being. A final study (n = 95) explored the effects of self-care in undergraduate students over a university semester. Results found that the frequency of self-care is associated with increased feelings of vitality, and is negatively correlated with feelings of burnout. Frequency of self-care did not predict academic goal achievement.