Have you announced an ambitious goal to the world and noticed that your willpower and motivation began to slip after a few weeks?
Or have you quietly abandoned your personal mission in the past after hearing negative opinions about your plans from others?
We tend to think of sharing our goals with others as a great way to hold ourselves accountable and increase our chances of success.
By talking about our intentions, we feel that we are putting sound pressure on our follow-through. We also have the long-awaited support and encouragement in the process.
But what if sharing our goals really motivates us to work on them?
Why you can lose motivation after sharing goals
In 2009, a popular study by psychologist Peter Gollwitzer found that public sharing of goals made them less likely to work to achieve them.
According to his research, we are happy with ourselves when we announce goals to someone, especially when we announce goals related to our identity, such as losing weight, running a marathon, writing a book, etc. Suggests.
From friends, family and colleagues setting That goal.
Natalie Hardie, a holistic mental health expert and founder of NH NeuroTraining, explains that with social awareness and early praise, it feels like you’ve already achieved that identity.
Therefore, you are less likely to do the work required to reach your goal.
“We generate dopamine releases when we publicly share our goals and encourage others to enjoy and resonate with our ideas and exceed our potential. “Masu,” Natalie tells Metro.co.uk. “Dopamine is released from the hypothalamus and is associated with reward, joy, and motivation.”
“We continuously share our goals with others and receive positive and encouraging feedback, which increases our dopamine release.
“This reduces the chances of completing the actions required to reach the goal.”
“The constant release of dopamine makes us feel so good that we feel prematurely accomplished.”
In other words, our brain tricks us into assuming that we were successful before we started.
How to Make More Benefits by Sharing Goals
But do you ever talk about our goals?
Some experts believe that sharing your goals with people can help you commit to them, but who and how you tell them. Is important.
So how can you share your goals in the right way?
Share goals with the right people
Recent studies challenge the theory that sharing goals is always a bad idea.
In the 2019 Journal of Applied Psychology survey, should do it Share their goals, but they need to be with the right people.
“This motivates us when we share our goals with someone we recognize as being in a higher position, and when they approve our goals,” Natalie said. say.
“Our perception of them creates confidence in our goals.”
She explains that it helps to hold us accountable because we care about their opinion as to whether we will achieve our goals.
Sarah Knight, NLP Certified Practitioner and Founder of Mind The Gap Business Academy, explains how the dopamine release from sharing goals can help us when talking to someone who inspires us. explain.
“Being encouraged by someone you can trust, that is, someone you admire, means that they want to do that in order to gain respect and build that relationship,” she said. increase.
Monitor the progress of your goals
You’ve probably seen many people use social media to support goals such as fitness and weight management.
This is because Instagram, TikTok, and other social media sites have added features that help people monitor their progress and physically document it.
“When we talk about our goals, others may ask about our progress, which helps to motivate us and help us reach our goals,” Natalie adds. ..
The downside of publishing goals on social media is that others can share positive or negative opinions. This can demoralize us.
“Natalie said:” Unrealistic expectations, negative comments, comparisons with others who have already achieved their goals, or the pressure of competition with those who are trying to achieve the same goals. , May affect your chances of achieving your goals. “
Sarah agrees that self-destruction is another pitfall of goal sharing on social media.
“The fear of being seen can be negative as well as encouraging.”
Which goal-sharing approach should I use?
The simple answer is: It’s different.
You will probably find it difficult to motivate yourself unless someone else pushes you. Sharing your goals with someone you admire may help drive you into action.
Maybe you thrive when you have a community to support you.
Tracking progress through social media or another support network can increase your chances of success.
If your goals are tied to your identity, such as becoming a healthier person or entrepreneur, you probably need to be quiet.
Sara advises you to set your intent for small, realistic outcomes rather than big goals.
“The theory of marginal profit of 1% shows the big compound effect of making a small difference of 1%,” she explains. Therefore, the key to accountability with yourself and others is to achieve it for those 1% goals.
After all, success is about setting goals and then taking small steps to move toward larger goals.
It’s great if you feel that talking to people will help you do those actions.
But if you’re aware of the spreading pattern and then fail to deliver … maybe it’s time to keep schtum.
Do you have a story to share?
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