Announcing your goals is a bad idea

Orchestra · Mar 28, 2012

Apparently, announcing your important, identity-relevant goals to the public actually makes you less likely to follow them through. This is known as the Gollwitzer effect after the foremost researcher on implementation intentions. Some writers seem to understand this principle intuitively and shut up about what they are going to write next. Some writers believe that public accountability is helpful but the science doesn't seem to back this up. Here's a research article (pdf) and a short TED talk.

What do you guys think? The thread about this year's writing-related goals is obviously very popular but could it actually be doing more harm than good? The fitness forum on Reddit specifically discourages posting your goals for this reason and asks you to focus on your achievements instead.

BethS · Mar 28, 2012

Orchestra said:
Apparently, announcing your important, identity-relevant goals to the public actually makes you less likely to follow them through.

Yeah. Which is why I never do it.

Maryn · Mar 28, 2012

Yet for many people I know, announcing their goal adds the accountability factor. So obviously for some it's a motivator.

Maryn, just sayin'

Manuel Royal · Mar 28, 2012

For me, I don't know. When I had a paid fiction column and a contract, I never missed the twice-weekly deadline. (Though I came close.)

Yet, if I simply announce my intentions -- it doesn't seem to happen. I almost immediately feel resentment about my self-imposed goals. It's idiotic. Maybe I should just take it a day at a time. Yet goals are important ....

Well, I'm going to spend the morning crying, watching Jane Austen movies, and eating ice cream.

Bubastes · Mar 28, 2012

I don't mind announcing my general, broad goals, but I keep the specifics of how to reach them to myself. For me, it's the best of both worlds.

Orchestra · Mar 28, 2012

Yes, I'm sure going public feels good for many people. I can see how it will motivate many. Unfortunately, achieving your goals is not usually determined by your motivation but your follow-through. I think most writers are motivated well enough by the writing itself. It's just that sometimes we have trouble actually getting the writing done and putting down the effort to achieve our goals. According to these studies, it's our ability to follow through that's affected, not our motivation.

Edit: Personally, reading about this phenomenon has changed my views completely. I used to blabber on and on about what I was going to do to anyone who cared to listen. That didn't stop me from underachieving and the feelings of guilt for "breaking my word" didn't help either. Now I'm much more mindful of what I'm telling people. We'll see if there is a difference.

eqb · Mar 28, 2012

Bubastes said:
I don't mind announcing my general, broad goals, but I keep the specifics of how to reach them to myself. For me, it's the best of both worlds.

That's a trick that works for me, too.

And the goals I posted in the Novels thread are goals imposed by editors and contracts, so I damn well better make them.

Layla Nahar · Mar 28, 2012

I think it's definitely person to person. I personally think focusing on one's achievements will do more for follow through, but many people perform best on a deadline, so putting yourself out there that you will do such & such works like that. I'm the kind who needs to avoid stating my goals.

thothguard51 · Mar 28, 2012

My goal is to go out with a smile on my face and a very erotic lap dancer on my...

Wait, I can't say it or I won't follow through...

quicklime · Mar 28, 2012

My goal is to kill a baby before lunch.

now that I have announced it, we can all breathe easier.

randi.lee · Mar 28, 2012

I don't set goals because I know - either way - I'll break them. I find, for me, it's better to go with the flow.

Gilroy Cullen · Mar 28, 2012

My problem with this "test" is it covered 163 people, over 4 tests. The sample size is too SMALL! It means of a small group of people, this is relevant. Take the whole world into account, and 163 is not even 0.001% of the population.

:Soapbox:

Sorry, same gripe to most "Nationwide surveys" that only talk to 1100 people out of 300 million.

Orchestra · Mar 28, 2012

Gilroy Cullen said:
The sample size is too SMALL!

This wasn't a survey. The sample size was quite normal for a psychological study of this nature. Also, this isn't the only study on the subject—just the only one I could find that was easily accessible.

veinglory · Mar 28, 2012

That article is for a very specific type of goal that is difficult open-ended and explicitly attached to an identity aspiration. In general social support and accountability increase achievement of short to intermediate, concrete and realistic goals. i.e. I will write 5000 words this weekend, not I will write 1000 words a day until I am a best selling author.

vickiexz · Mar 28, 2012

I was always told that announcing goals (or at the very least, writing them down, even if its just for yourself) is a good way to make them concrete so you can focus on them. Honestly though, my personal experience hasn't really reflected that. To me, it's less about declaring it once from the roof tops, and more about reminding yourself every day of where you want to eventually be with small steps.

Gilroy Cullen · Mar 28, 2012

Orchestra said:
The sample size was quite normal for a psychological study of this nature.

That would make me question the "results" of the "study" then, because it does provide a proper scientific sample, in my mind.

Oh, and most psychological "studies" are theories run through a "survey" of how people react.

I've been a guinea pig for enough of them. Until they get to the true neuroscience, rather than the observational science, its a crap shoot.

ETA: This is simply an opinion and not meant to argue against anyone else's view. Please take all things written with a grain of salt and knowledge that I'm not trying to damage toes.

Susan Coffin · Mar 28, 2012

Announcing goals works for many people, but does not work for others. I think it's more important to keep silent on the how you are going to reach the goals. After all, your path to that goal might be different than what you first thought. When I announce my goals, I am serious about reaching them.

Layla Nahar · Mar 28, 2012

I think this has a lot to do with whether a person sees themselves as someone who is likely to fail at something or to succeed.

leahzero · Mar 28, 2012

veinglory said:
That article is for a very specific type of goal that is difficult open-ended and explicitly attached to an identity aspiration. In general social support and accountability increase achievement of short to intermediate, concrete and realistic goals. i.e. I will write 5000 words this weekend, not I will write 1000 words a day until I am a best selling author.

This.

One of the goal examples in the abstract was to regularly read law periodicals with the intention of becoming a lawyer. That's a pretty lofty goal; I'd guess many who try for it fail, regardless of whether they announce the goal or not.

Short-term, controllable goals are much easier to achieve, and in that case telling others definitely helps me.

Terie · Mar 28, 2012

Orchestra said:
Apparently, announcing your important, identity-relevant goals to the public actually makes you less likely to follow them through. This is known as the Gollwitzer effect after the foremost researcher on implementation intentions. Some writers seem to understand this principle intuitively and shut up about what they are going to write next. Some writers believe that public accountability is helpful but the science doesn't seem to back this up. Here's a research article (pdf) and a short TED talk.

What do you guys think? The thread about this year's writing-related goals is obviously very popular but could it actually be doing more harm than good? The fitness forum on Reddit specifically discourages posting your goals for this reason and asks you to focus on your achievements instead.

I think you missing the part where the results are not true for 100% of the population. While it might be true that most people shouldn't, that doesn't mean that any specific person shouldn't. That's the danger of adhering to study results slavishly, as if they apply to everyone.

Everyone needs to figure out for themself (!) what strategies work best for them.

cray · Mar 28, 2012

cripes.

anyone else see this avatar?

why do the mods keeps messing with me!?

Anne Lyle · Mar 28, 2012

veinglory said:
That article is for a very specific type of goal that is difficult open-ended and explicitly attached to an identity aspiration. In general social support and accountability increase achievement of short to intermediate, concrete and realistic goals. i.e. I will write 5000 words this weekend, not I will write 1000 words a day until I am a best selling author.

This. The "goals" in that study were long-term, unquantified aspirations. If you've been through any kind of management/motivational training, you'll know that you need to set goals that are SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timebound

Saying "I'm going to study more statistics" is not a SMART goal - saying "I'm going to read 5 statistics papers this week instead of 3" is.

The trick is to learn to judge what's attainable. Some weeks (and some tasks), I know I might not get a lot done so I keep my goals vague. But when I'm working to a deadline, I set very specific goals and I stick to them. (I belong to another site that has a long-standing tradition of posting goals and cheering one another on. It works for me, most of the time.)

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 28, 2012

I think this is a prime example of "your mileage may vary."

What works for one writer doesn't work for another.

In my case, announcIng my goals has always been a death sentence. Instead of it being a motivator it actually kills my motivation as though the act of tellingwhat I'm doing makes it feel like I've accomplished it. I've let people know my intentions and I then lose interest.

It's the same reason I find I can outline. The few times I've created the outline I lost all interest in the project. It felt as though I had already written the story and I lost all motivation.

So yeah. In 2010 I didn't tell anyone I was doing Nano and I completed the novel. In 2011 I joined the threads, told everyone I was doing it, and ended up writing just a few pages and abandoning it about a week in.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 28, 2012

I've read any number of studies showing the opposite is true. Though most of that research paper contradicts itself, and says nothing of any importance.

Announcing goals works very weel for some, and not for others. But the other side of the question is true, as well. Not announcing goals works very well for some, and not for other.

The one thing other studies I've seen take into account is who you announce the goals to, how much the person wants to look good in the eyes of these others, and how much pressure those who know the goals will apply to hold the person to his word.

Without all of this, it's a meaningless study.

aishashadow · Mar 28, 2012

I set monthly goals (though I don't announce them publicly) and rarely meet them. The aim is not to meet those goals but rather to keep me on track during the month so that I am working on things that I am supposed to be working on. I have a bad habit of working on many different projects at once and with the goals I know which ones have higher priority.

Announcing your goals is a bad idea

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