Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash

Something Wonderful is Happening!

I am shocked…

In my last post, “Going Balls Out”, I outlined a goal that I had just made. It was a bit spontaneous, certainly ambitious, and frankly a bit scary. Also…

I made my goal public.

Amy Rigby wrote a piece on blog.trello.com about scientific research that has been done that shows we should not share our goals. I won't go through the details with you, but in summary, she said that sharing goals can thwart our efforts for a number of reasons.

Rigby sited that:

• Receiving premature praise for making the goal, as contrasted with praise for reaching the goal, can actually work against you. According to research, this makes following through to completion less likely.
• Getting negative feedback early on, especially for a beginner, can slow you down or stop you.
• Many believe that sharing a goal makes you more accountable for its completion. According to Rigby’s research, this is not always the case.
• Sharing a goal with competitors, and seeing their efforts rewarded while you struggle, can encourage you to quit. The theory is that by quitting a dog-eat-dog race, you avoid losing, or the feelings associated with failure.