Tests done since 1933 show that people who talk about their intentions are less likely to make them happen. Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed.
This discovery, written about by Derek Sivers (who Des and I will have the great pleasure of sharing a stage with at LessConf), fascinates me.
I understand the urge: that new and sexy idea-turning-reality is just too exciting not to share; I frequently blab about our projects with friends. But there’s a far more serious and damaging level to which many take it. I know people that describe in glorious detail their app / site / company, only for it never to see the light of day. They register the domain alright, but beyond that, the rest is but a dream.
To sleep, perchance to dream.
Hamlet worries about what dreams may come after his suicide, but oftentimes shared dreams are suicide themselves. So I suggest you try the opposite: shut up and get busy. There’s nothing sweeter than sharing a secret worth sharing. I’ve experienced this with quite a few of the apps I’ve worked on and it’s a pleasure. But wait until you see the next app!
9 Comments
Yeah, I think that’s partially true for me. As I’m sure a lot of people have experienced, great ideas often change into *other* great ideas. Telling everyone about your great idea may help to box yourself in. Your idea becomes more concrete just when it should be at it’s most flexible.
Posted by David A McClain at 5:57 am on 29 September, 2009.
also a result dramatically at odds with other research I’ve encountered on the subject (see, for instance, ch. 3 of Cialdini, R, “Influence: Science and Practice”, 4th Ed., (Allyn & Bacon, 2001) — also, unaccountably, entirely online here: http://www.iiit.ac.in/~bipin/files/Dawkins/July/Robert%20Cialdini%20-%20Influence%252C%20Science%20and%20Practice.pdf).
Posted by Greg at 9:09 am on 29 September, 2009.
You said last year…”Ideas aren’t real until they’re talked about, considered, discussed and picked apart. Put your ideas out into the world and watch them blossom; keep them locked-up in your mind and see them perish.”
So which is it?
Posted by Mister Consistency at 10:23 am on 29 September, 2009.
I’m talking about “idea-turning-reality”; a half-baked “app / site / company” that some people would rather talk about than finish.
Posted by Eoghan McCabe at 10:32 am on 29 September, 2009.
It can also have the opposite affect of putting yourself under peer pressure to now produce the app which you have bored everyone talking about.
Posted by Aidan at 10:50 am on 29 September, 2009.
This post actually worried me the first time I read it. I (like Aidan mentioned) would have thought that announcing a project is a great way to feel pressure to go out and complete it - people will now know if you’ve given up.
On the other hand, if I was to keep my projects in my head they’d become what Ze Frank called “Brain Crack” - something that feels much better to plan than to go out and achieve.
However, on looking into it a bit more I don’t think that this research is really contradicting these points. Here’s a quote that I think is slightly more important then the one used above:
“In 1933, W. Mahler found that if a person announced the solution to a problem, and was acknowledged by others, it was now in the brain as a “social reality”, even if the solution hadn’t actually been achieved.”
And an every day example of what he’s warning against:
“It may seem unnatural to keep your intentions and plans private, but try it. If you do tell a friend, make sure not to say it as a satisfaction (“I’ve joined a gym and bought running shoes. I’m going to do it!”), but as dissatisfaction (“I want to lose 20 pounds, so kick my ass if I don’t, OK?”) ”
I think the last bit explains where the distinction lies - in how you tell someone, not that you’re telling them - and why much of Derek’s post seems to have missed the mark in my opinion.
To put this in the web development context, I think the research is warning us not to share informatiom like “I’ve registered the domain today”, which would give us a false sense of completion, but I don’t think it warns against saying “Domain registered but we’re only at step 1, our goal is to have x number of users and €x revenue per month by the end of the year”.
Well that’s my reading of it!
Posted by Peter Tanham at 2:27 pm on 30 September, 2009.
Hi Peter,
I would tend to agree with you. But I’m afraid of hacks designed to by-pass real motivation. Using peer pressure as a lever to finish that app you’ve been thinking about is grand, but what about that blog post to announce the update you made to the billing system for that app, or what about the update itself, or what about the billing system even?
Trust me, battling for success is often a very lonely marathon. To get through it you need consistent self-drive over a long and tiresome period of time. The only hack I use to further motivate myself is to look forward to the pleasure of revealing the fruits of my hard work!
Thanks for chipping in and making me think more about the issue.
Posted by Eoghan McCabe at 8:46 pm on 30 September, 2009.
Announcing your plans to others satisfies your self-identity just enough that you’re less motivated to do the hard work needed - I don’t quite agree with this. I believe that after announcing your plans you become more responsible to complete it. It acts like an extra inspiration.
Posted by Nitesh Ambuj at 7:35 am on 6 October, 2009.
I’ve seen this problem happen way too often when it comes time for strategy and design. Strategy inherently is based around talking and coming up with the right course of action. So it’s hard to eliminate the discussion end of that and just make it happen.
But with design of a site or logo I can definitely see this approach working out well.
If you hire a designer to, well, design for you, you have to trust them and let them do their job. Then if you are going to pick apart every decision they made and second guess it, you will be stuck in an endless cycle of never reaching a final product. (or taking way too much time that is not necessary and never reaching your beginning goal).
And don’t even get me started on getting a blog launched… Just start writing good content! Enough said.
Posted by Matt Dyson at 10:11 pm on 7 October, 2009.
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