Let’s say you’ve just set a difficult long-term goal for yourself — something like becoming a lawyer, going vegan or writing a 26-volume history of the Civil War. What’s the first thing you do? Most people would tell their friends about this new goal, to enlist moral support and a little back-patting. But according to a new study by psychologists at NYU, “going public” with your plans might not help you accomplish them — in fact, it may de-motivate you.
How could this be? Newsweek analyzed the results of the study:
The study’s author thinks it has to do with sense of identity and wholeness. We all want to be an idealized person, and declaring our intentions to work hard is a symbolic act. It contributes to the goal of completing who we are.
That is, simply stating a strategy for [in the case of the study] becoming a good lawyer made the test subjects feel like they were real lawyers, and this inflated self-image paradoxically made them less hard working. They had become legends in their own minds, and legends don’t have to get down and dirty.
Announcing your goals, at least according to this study, gives you a “premature sense of completeness” and makes you less motivated to actually achieve them. Derek Sivers looked at a related study:
A related test found that success on one sub-goal (eating healthy meals) reduced efforts on other important sub-goals (going to the gym) for the same reason. You have “identity symbols” in your brain that make your self-image. Since both actions and talk create symbols in your brain, talking satisfies the brain enough that it “neglects the pursuit of further symbols.”
Does that mean you can never tell your friends what you’re working on? Not necessarily, says Sivers. Expressing your goals not in a self-satisfied way (“I’m really gonna do it!”) but in a dissatisfied manner (“I really need to do X, kick my butt if I don’t”) might help to disrupt that “premature sense of completeness.”
What do you think?
Comments (16)
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Absolutely true. The only way I was able to finally quit smoking was to stop talking about it with family and friends. I found the less I talked about it, the less distorted my perception of the goal and its importance became in my mind. The same is true of my savings goals.
In fact, I’m a little anxious writing this comment … I hope I haven’t jinxed myself! But it really does work this way. Just do it, and don’t talk about doing it.
posted by Charlie on 12-3-2009 at 8:36 am
Very interesting and good to know! I’m a chronic start-but-dont-finisher, so maybe I should keep more of my plans to myself so I don’t fool my brain?
posted by Nicole on 12-3-2009 at 8:48 am
I think a lot of it is how much you trust your own opinion…self-doubt will probably make you disbelieve what you say! I’m a law student and I tell myself I want to be a law student…and after being subjected to the Socratic method during class sometimes, I definitely doubt myself and it makes me work harder.
I agree with Nicole — I should start keeping goals secret from myself so I don’t thwart them!
posted by Noelle on 12-3-2009 at 9:02 am
I disagree with their findings when it comes to something like running a marathon. Thinking about all the people I told kept me going during the long training runs leading up to the big day. If not for having told EVERYONE that I was going to do a silly thing like running a marathon and having them doubt me, I would have given up. Marathons are far.
posted by Dr. Mantis Toboggan on 12-3-2009 at 9:32 am
Wow, explains my life!
“They had become legends in their own minds, and legends don’t have to get down and dirty.”
I’m making a new long term goal not to over inflate my ego towards my long term goals!! I’m really going to do it this time, yes I am!!!
posted by J on 12-3-2009 at 9:43 am
Seriously though, how does this address the proverbial overachiever that just assumes everything they want to have work out will work out for them, isn’t that a legend in their own mind as well?
The eternal struggle between confidence and overconfidence.
posted by J on 12-3-2009 at 9:45 am
I’ve discovered the less I talk about any kind of goal the better off I am. The minute I announced “We’re finally going to Italy for our vacation this year!” karma handed us a house repair that wiped out all the savings for the trip. So I’m trying not to announce anything to the universe until whatever goal is in the bag now. We’ll see if it works!
posted by Terri on 12-3-2009 at 10:47 am
I agree with Dr. Toboggan. I did NaNoWriMo for the first time this year and told everyone about it. If it wasn’t for the constant “How’s that word count coming?” from my friends and family I would have given up at the 43K mark and shrugged it off. I finished because I didn’t want to admit to everyone I’d failed.
posted by Caitlin on 12-3-2009 at 11:06 am
I never tell folks my plans because they then, in turn, ask me relentlessly ‘how’s it going?’ and I feel huge amts of pressure to complete the task…I much prefer to set a goal, achieve it and then discuss it afterwards. It makes me feel more in power and less vulnerable to other folks’ ideals.
posted by donner on 12-3-2009 at 12:40 pm
I wonder if this is predicated on whether a person has actually already acted towards achieving their goals or not. I agree with others that having an audience can be a motivator. But I also agree with the result of the study. Letting other people in on what I’m doing seems to help only if I’ve already been working towards my goal.
posted by Kirk on 12-3-2009 at 1:09 pm
For me, it’s a situational thing. Like NaNoWriMo, or the time I did an MS150, having told people who then held me accountable really benefitted me. But telling a bunch of people I was going to go back and get my Masters of Library Science has gotten me no where. I’ve often felt that making such goals public takes away the energy of them for me.
posted by Karen on 12-3-2009 at 1:23 pm
I have found i have i have better luck complementarity goals when I feel I am being watched. Accountability is key in this, if my friends no I am trying to do something they also know that i want them to help keep me on track. I have actually started posting my goals for the week on my blog every Monday, knowing that i have to give a report on my actions the fallowing Monday is a great motivator.
posted by Quinn on 12-3-2009 at 2:10 pm
I wonder how many potential entrepreneur’s don’t go forward with thier plans because they have been talked out of it. I have had several off the wall ambitions, have completed some. I guess in the end the naysayers make me mad enough to show em they were wrong.
posted by susan on 12-3-2009 at 2:47 pm
I wasn’t going to comment, but…
reCAPTCHA: motives 15
Strangely relevant.
posted by Tdl on 12-3-2009 at 7:23 pm
Wow, this is so true! The way I always looked at is: talking about it used up my mental energy, so to speak. It took years & years before I realized it. But when I talked a bunch about what I was going to do, it was when the time came to actually DO it that I had little or no motivation! Like I’d used it all up! Now I know I’m not alone in this. In the years since, I do keep things to myself when I really want to get them done. Have to admit, I don’t always get it done anyway, but at least I don’t look like a wannabe.
posted by Jenny on 12-4-2009 at 1:48 am
I don’t know- I’ve found that announcing my goals (getting a Ph.D., running a half-marathon) made me far more motivated- because I feel that if I don’t accomplish it the people I’ve told will think less of me. On the quitting smoking front; I had kept saying I was going to quit and didn’t; it wasn’t until I said \I don’t smoke….anymore\ one day that I never smoked a cigarette again.
posted by chrissy on 12-4-2009 at 7:14 am