Talking About Our Goals Prevents Us From Achieving Them, Study Says
Some people just foretold it, and surprisingly they seem to have found some evidence to support their hypothesis: Talking about our goals prevents us from achieving them. In reality, it has nothing to do with luck or fate. There is a common thread that links these two events.
Derek Sivers, entrepreneur and researcher on human behavior, is the first to have raised the subject. It was based on studies by Kurt Lewin (1926), Wera Mahler (1933) and Peter M. Gollwitzer (1982 and 2009).
In addition, there are several studies underway according to which those who make their goals and plans public increase the likelihood of achieving them. In other words, the opposite hypothesis. Why is this happening? How does talking about our goals affect their achievement?
Should we talk about our goals?
According to Derek Sivers – a direction in which neuroscience is also pointing – the human brain has some “flaws” in the way it works. One of the most important is that he doesn’t always distinguish fact from fiction. For example, we may cry while watching a sad scene from a movie when what is happening there is not real.
In view of this bias, the brain often confuses saying and doing. This mainly happens when this saying is very categorical or prolonged. A goal is a wish that we visualize, but that we have not yet achieved. This is the key: this is a wish. So that implies that there is a motivation to make this wish come true.
What is “problematic” is that people really like to talk about their goals. Talking a lot about a goal creates a sort of illusion. The brain begins to generate the sensation of having achieved this objective (there is a kind of anticipation of the enjoyment of the reinforcement which would diminish its value). It’s like getting a “simulated result”.
The cause of the phenomenon
According to the studies cited, this is only the case when we discuss it with others. Thinking about them or writing them down does not affect their realization, for example. Why does the brain end up creating this illusion of accomplishment when we tell others about our goals?
The answer is this: Talking about our goals out loud usually leads to comment. Thus, the goal can be treated as a fact rather than a projection of the future. This generates a whole range of sensations which end up “exhausting”, so to speak, the urge to achieve the goal in question.
Don’t talk about your goals
It is generally said that it is better to talk about s facts. It is totally true. If we talk less and do more, our motivation will undoubtedly be better. This will prevent the brain from falling into its own trap.
Derek Sivers points out in particular that if the project arouses admiration in others, it ends up generating such satisfaction that reaching this goal will lose its importance. It therefore recommends the following:
- If you want to talk about your goals, do so in general terms and with vague definitions. Don’t mention anything in particular until you’ve actually achieved it.
- If you can not resist the urge to talk about a goal or project, express your ideas e way to stay accountable to each other. Make it clear that you did not achieve this goal.
Here is an example to illustrate the first recommendation: “I implement certain routines to improve my health. And another to illustrate the second recommendation: “I plan to read one book a month.” If we see each other in a month and I haven’t, scold me. “
Try it out. It seems that using the others as control elements under the given settings works.
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