To Achieve Your Goals, Keep It a Secret

I once went on a creative writing binge and churned out 100 pages of a story. It wasn’t completed — it was only the beginning. I showed it to my roommate, who actually read the whole thing, told me she liked it, and I never touched it again.

This happened again another time, when I thought of a great story I was going to write, told someone, and then lost all interest.

Turns out it isn’t just me. Turns out that very often, once you tell someone about your goals, and get some sort of positive reaction from it, it gives you the same amount of satisfaction as if you had actually achieved that goal! So you no longer have as much motivation to pursue it, because you’ve kind of already been there done that.

Now, it may not be practical, or healthy to keep your dreams a secret from your loved ones, especially when you can use them effectively for support and encouragement. The key is to not get that positive stimulus that triggers the “I’m very satisfied with myself” feeling. When you do reveal your goal(s), put it in the context of where you are right now, and what your plans are to reaching them. If all you say is “I’m going to be an astronaut!” and everyone around you applauds and tells you you’ll definitely succeed, then you might end up losing all motivation to actually be one.

Instead, research and find out all the steps you have to take in order to meet your goal, and share and discuss the long road ahead. Your friends and family will be able to encourage and support you, and follow up on these small steps, rather than slap your back and heartily exclaim “Go get’em!”