{"id":40755,"date":"2021-06-20T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-20T15:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=40755"},"modified":"2021-07-01T13:48:15","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T17:48:15","slug":"keep-your-goals-to-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/keep-your-goals-to-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Keep Your Goals to Yourself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you feel excited when you set big goals for yourself? Do you share your goals with others to keep yourself accountable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research shows that when you share your goals with others, your brain feels the pleasure of this accomplishment even as you speak the words\u2014you don’t even have to put in the effort of following through. Counterintuitively, since you already felt the pleasure of going, it makes you lose motivation to actually go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why you should keep your goals to yourself until you accomplish them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

When False Hope Makes Us Give In<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Why should you keep your goals to yourself? Think about how great it feels when we set New Year\u2019s resolutions. When we vow to change our habits, our brains get a rush of happiness. We are filled with hope, and hope feels wonderful. After all, it’s obvious how great our lives will be after we put those resolutions into place.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating hope is a great strategy for feeling better\u2014it’s instant gratification\u2014but the bad news is that the hard work is about to start. <\/strong>Actually making the changes you’ve proposed is a lot harder (and less fun) than making those resolutions was. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s easy to get charged up and tell ourselves that because we created a great plan, we’re in control. But promising to change our ways only deceives us into feeling good; it doesn’t actually change our behaviors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Announcing your goals can also offer a sense of false hope. If you tell your friends you’re going to accomplish a goal\u2014say, go to yoga class three times a week\u2014your brain feels the pleasure of this accomplishment even as you speak the words. You don’t actually have to go to yoga class to feel good\u2014just the idea feels good. <\/strong>But since your brain has already registered this pleasure, you lose the motivation to go do it. To eliminate this possibility, many scientists believe it’s actually more productive to keep your goals to yourself until after you’ve already carried them out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prepare for Willpower Emergencies   <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s some good news: Optimism mixed with a sprinkling of pessimism may make it possible to keep those New Year\u2019s resolutions<\/strong>. If you plan ahead for potential scenarios that could derail you, you can be the hero or heroine who saves yourself from a willpower failure. Here\u2019s a scheme to add some stark realism to your plans: <\/p>\n\n\n\n