Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to ac...

Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen.

Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.

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Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen.

Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.

In 1933, W. Mahler found that if a person announced the solution to a problem, and was acknowledged by others, it was now in the brain as a “social reality”, even if the solution hadn’t actually been achieved.

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Four different tests of 63 people found that those who kept their intentions private were more likely to achieve them than those who made them public and were acknowledged by others.

Once you’ve told people of your intentions, it gives you a “premature sense of completeness.”

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“Secrecy is the first law of Magic” – from Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way.

Talking about your project seems to spread your energy in every direction other than towards completion.

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While I agree that this has truth to it, especially if you only have to be accountable to yourself. However, in groups, isn’t it helpful to openly lay out goals for projects, commit to tasks as well as deadlines? This, of course only works if the members of the group hold each other accountable.

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Thinking about this further. . . I guess it would depend on WHO one talked about plans with.

There are several specific people I go to talk with after coming up with good/interesting ideas I would like to implement and feel quite deeply about. These people tend to be very entrepreneurial and of the go-getter mentality (and are all firmly in my corner). I find that if I take an idea to these people, I usually implement it. If I don`t, a good percentage of the time the idea remains simply that: an idea.

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What about the effect of writing down your goals (even for yourself)? I’ve often been told that was a strong motivator, never understood why.

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It’s important to note that these studies address identity-related behavioral intentions “(e.g., the intention to read law periodicals regularly to reach the identity goal of becoming a lawyer).”

“when other people take notice of an individual’s identity-related behavioral intention, this gives the individual a premature sense of possessing the aspired-to identity”

” More generally, when a person pursuing a given activity can talk about the self positively, or otherwise attempts to gain more recognition for performing that activity, the audience for these words and gestures is likely to conclude that the person is indeed well prepared and competent. But such an inference is often erroneous. ”

It’s the difference between being blowing smoke and actually doing something. If people erroneously give you enough of the sough after identity by talking-the-talk, then there is little motivation to walk-the-walk.

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I noticed that the statement “I’ve joined a gym and bought running shoes. I’m going to do it!” do not say anything about the final goal, while “I want to lose 20 pounds, so kick my ass if I don’t, OK?” clearly states that I want to lose 20 punds. In that sense it is similar to Law of Attraction- The final goal is clear but the details on the way is not something to worry about

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I think social networking sites like Twitter encourage this kind of behavior. I’ve probably announced dozens of times that I’m working on such-and-such type of side project. If I don’t announce it directly, I tend to drop hints about it, sometimes inadvertently.

This is another good reason for me to cut down on my Twitter use.

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It’s good to know there is another side to every story but perhaps different people need different degrees of balance between telling and not telling. I know that for me, it helps me to tell my partner and my friends about my goals because when they ask me about it, I don’t want to say “actually, I’ve done nothing about it”.

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I like the Einstein quote
“If A is a success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”

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In my experience, it is the other way around. Any time I’ve told someone I’m going to do something, I feel a strong obligation to get it done.

I learned this about myself early on in life so I was always hesitant to tell people about any of my plans because that meant that I would have to do them!

Now days I use it as a tool. If I want to get something done and “force” myself into action, I just start blabbing about it. It also helps in the way of getting some great feedback.

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I think that it depends on whether it’s for work, or for personal goals. For work, I think that you do need to communicate your thoughts and plans and ideas constantly, mainly to get buy-in from other people. Also, at work, there is accountability there, because your manager is expecting you to finish certain goals.

But for personal stuff, I think that stating your goals doesn’t work. For example, my husband tells me often that he wants to learn the keyboards. We have keyboards and a piano at home, and a built-in teacher (me). But he doesn’t have enough to kick himself to practice. He wants me to bug him to practice. But that’s not my job. People have to be self motivated. So I think for personal stuff, it’s better to really think about what your personal goals are, and rely on yourself to kick your own butt.

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[...] now you have a real reason not to tell us all about your hopes and dreams… Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to [...]

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Let’s try it.

Hugh MacLeod in “Ignore Everybody” says that new ideas change the nature of relationships and that people, innately, don’t like their relationships to change, so your new idea (hopefully it’s new) will likely be met with some kind of wet-blanketism, consciously given or unconsciously given.

I think the majority of people who ever “climbed their own Mt. Everest” could’ve care less about what anyone else thought about their ideas and had no need to bounce them off everybody they met.

I’m doing my own experiment and shutting up now…

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[...] advice may be true for some intentions, but the blanket statement does not tell the whole story.  The message should be to keep talking – but with the right type of [...]

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I think there are two types of people in this situation…

1. Those who talk a lot.

2. Those who keep their heads to the ground and make things happen.

Those who accomplishing things don’t need to talk a lot, because they have the self-esteem that comes with that.

Derek, I know you’re a fan of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. In that book, he talks about the “mastermind principle.”

If you have the support structure, you’re more likely to accomplish things than without it. That’s been my experience anyway…

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great article. so this is what we called… “don’t jinx it!”

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Wow – this is topical!

Thanks for posting this, Derek.

Based on your quantity vs quality learning post, I had decided to make it a (public) goal to release a new song / piece of music every few days. Started feeling pretty nervous / anxious about the whole thing almost immediately.

After reading this, I’ve taken down all posts related to the goal =)

Thanks!

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[...] blew it yesterday when I announced my intentions to learn the Unity Application Block according to “Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them”, which states Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that [...]

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