Keep Your Goals to Yourself

I ran across this video today by Derek Sivers entitled "Keep Your Goals to Yourself", which is exactly what it says on the tin. He claims through scientific study that proclaiming a goal out loud to the world (and possibly even to yourself) makes you less likely to actually do whatever it is you said you'd do.

Why is this? Apparently, just saying what you're planning to do tricks your mind into thinking you're already doing it. Much like hoarding objects for a specific hobby but never actually practicing said hubby, saying it out loud starts to feel like accomplishing something... when, really, you're not.

You know what? This hit the nail right on the head on my own attitude toward work and personal projects.

To be honest, I have done this a million times. I'll keep saying, "Oh, I should do this..." or "Oh, I'm gonna do that..." ... and never actually doing it. My mind is satisfied that I vocalized those goals, now I'm done for the day and can laze around- wait, what? That makes no sense! No, self! Do something!!

I was curious if actually being quiet about my goals would work, so for today, I kept some of what I was planning to do today to myself. While I didn't finish all of them, I managed to actually act upon at least three tasks, which is better than nothing. The funny part is, the one thing I said out loud that I'd do once I got home? ... I ended up not doing it, because just saying I'll do it became a substitute in my head for actually doing something about it!

Now I'm at a loss as to whether I should proclaim to the world that I will continue to keep things to myself on this public post, because I may just end up not doing it-- oh, drat. Let's backtrack and pretend that never happened, eh, friend? ;)