Here is Why You Should Not Tell People Your Goals
One of the mistakes that I have probably committed hundreds of times is telling people about my goals.
Because most of the time, especially if I let people know about them, I do not achieve them and it feels horrible when you say that you are going to do something and then end up achieving nothing for one reason or another.
I might lose interest in the middle of a project and quit or I might simply reset my priorities and postponed it! I always felt that telling people about your goals isn’t the most effective method but I never implement it.
I tried a couple of times, but sometimes I would forget about it in the middle of a long conversation.
When your friend asks you, So what you going to do Next? and then you do it unconsciously! We all have been in that situation because we all have personal goals.
losing weight, learning how to play the guitar, go to the gym, travel, start jogging every morning, start your own business, learn a new language, write your first blog, and so on and so forth.
We constantly set personal goals and We have this tendency to share them with people as if we are seeking some kind of approval.
By the way, I started going to the gym or didn’t I tell you that I am starting my own website soon or I am planning to get a new car In fact, Some people think that will encourage them.
When I tell people about my goals, won’t I feel more accountable, at the end of the day, I have made a public commitment, therefore I will more likely achieve them. If I won’t, I might find myself in an embarrassing situation.
Or when I tell my family about it, they might encourage me and motivate me. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, your friends might congratulate you but no one cares about your goals except yourself.
But If you give it a closer look, whenever you tell people about your goals, in 95 percent of the cases, you do not achieve them.
As if you start losing interest in perusing that goal right after telling people about it! something magical happens and you no longer have that motivation that you had before.
On the other hand, you usually achieve your goals, if you publicly do not talk about them. It might seem strange, but there is a reasonable explanation behind it.
There are multiple research has been done to prove this but let’s take a look at one of them by Peter Gollwitzer.
163 people were asked to write down their goals. Half of them publicly announced their goals, and the other half stayed silent.
In fact, those who announced their goal publicly in front of everyone said that they are feeling they are very close to achieving them.
Soon after, everyone was given a task of 45 minutes, to work on something that will directly lead them to their goals.
The only rule was that you can stop at any time!
The surprising part was that those who were silent about their goals worked the entire 45 minutes on average and said that there is still a long way to go, while those who publicly talked about their goals worked on average only 33 minutes and stopped, Sharing your goals will give you a fake feeling of achievement.
It will make you feel good as if you are bragging about it. Especially when your friends congratulate you for that, you feel as if you already achieved them.
The gratification that public acknowledgment brings can delude your brain to mistake the talking for doing. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should not write down your goals and just keep them in your mind.
As a matter of fact, you are more likely you achieve them if you write them down, and come up with practical plans! Because if you just keep them in your memory, they will fade away slowly.
But be careful when you talk about your goals. In fact, I would suggest, be completely silent about them until the moment you achieve them.
As they say,
Work hard in silence, let success make the noise
And if someone still asks about your goals, try to avoid and give a general answer. And now it’s your turn, what do you think? Do you usually talk about your goals, or you just prefer to stay silent about them! Let me know in the comments below.
Worth Reading Articles:
* Weird Superstitions You Practice-Without Realizing
* 15 Psychology Tricks To Persuade Anyone
* If you don’t learn these 10 habits, you can’t be successful
* How To Stop Caring What People Think
* 12 Approval Seeking Behaviors You Need To Stop