Don't tell people your goals!
Image via Wikipedia Derek Sivers makes a compelling case against going public with your goals in his short talk at the 2010 Ted Conference. (The talk is only a little over three minutes long.) His basic premise is this: telling someone your goals makes them less likely to happen. Why is this true? According to him, it is because you get the psychological satisfaction of accomplishing the goal without having to actually do the work. In other words, talking becomes a substitute for doing . This goes against conventional goal-setting wisdom. However, Sivers cites the work of several psychologists, including Kurt Lewin , Wera Mahler, and Peter Gollwitzer . He then describes a fascinating study that Dr. Gollwitzer conducted in 2009. In four separate tests, 163 people wrote down a personal goal. Half of them announced their commitment to their goal; half of them didn’t. Then they were given 45-minutes to work toward their goal but told that they could stop at any time. Those who ha