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A comment on Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them (2009).

Re:Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accompl... by drakonka on Thursday September 26, 2019 @11:36AM (#21081921)
I watched a TED talk about this years ago and recognized myself and my habits. I've since stopped announcing plans until I have a certain amount of concrete progress. Sometimes I still misjudge, and lose motivation. For me this applies for both small and big things.

Eg say I make plans to go to the gym tomorrow. If I tell someone I'm going to go to the gym, I am less likely to actually do it. If I keep my mouth shut I'll probably follow through. I currently have an idea of something I'd like to do. It will take a lot of physical and emotional work. I've tried to make plans before and discussed them with some friends, and always after the discussions it never ends up happening. This time I'm not telling anyone until the plan is actually in motion.

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Re:Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accompl... by taeric on Thursday September 26, 2019 @11:47AM (#21082079)
I'm interested in seeing that talk, if you can remember who it was. Or have a link.

I had thought the opposite was true. Announcing was supposed to be like committing. Curious if it just became a form of virtue signaling.

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Re:Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accompl... by agota on Thursday September 26, 2019 @12:01PM (#21082273)
I'm not the person you replied to, but...

Could it be Derek Sivers' TED Talk "Keep your goals to yourself"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHopJHSlVo4

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Re:Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accompl... by milohax on Thursday September 26, 2019 @05:43PM (#21085880)
I haven't watched this (I'm on a bus, bandwidth concerns) but the title just made me think: "yes, keep your goals to myself. In a diary. That way I won't be demotivated by premature announcement, yet I'll be bursting to have something to show when I make progress"

Promissing to ones self, for me at least, is a motivator because I trust myself more, and the trust is reinforced as I complete goals. But announcing "I'm doing this thing" either causes anxiety, or demotivates nectar is already our there, as the article describes.

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