{"id":34987,"date":"2015-09-04T09:47:38","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T17:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=34987"},"modified":"2016-05-03T08:08:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-03T16:08:22","slug":"keeping-goals-secret-best-way-successful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/keeping-goals-secret-best-way-successful\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Keeping Your Goals Secret Is the Best Way To Be Successful"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Experts have been advising for years that sharing\u00a0your goals with other people increases your commitment to them.<\/p>\n

When you do, you feel accountable. You feel as if you’re on your way to success. Nothing can stop you.<\/p>\n

It turns out we got it all wrong.<\/p>\n

Psychologists have found<\/a> that, by telling someone your goal, you are actually\u00a0less likely<\/em> to accomplish it.<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p>\n

By giving voice to your goal, you feel like you’ve taken a huge step forward. Unfortunately, this feeling—called “social reality” by psychologists—is just that: a feeling. You haven’t actually accomplished anything yet.<\/p>\n

Saying your goal out loud\u00a0widens the gap between what you intend to do and what you actually do. It disembodies the goal from your actions.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, by keeping your goals secret, you maintain that sense of urgency and drive to keep moving forward. You feel like there’s still a lot of work to be done, and you double down on self-discipline and control. You make plans, create to-do lists, and take action.<\/p>\n

With no one aware of your intent, your intention-behavior gap remains small—exactly where you want it.<\/p>\n

Derek Sivers gave a\u00a0TED talk<\/a> about the benefits of keeping your goals to yourself, citing four psychology studies since 1926 consistent with this counter-intuitive approach:<\/p>\n