Should You Share Your Goals?

Do you want to lose 10kg? Do you want to run your first half marathon? Great! Write your goal down, put it somewhere where you can see it, but before you tell anyone about it, consider this...

 

- Pedro van Gaalen

It’s often said that telling people your goal, or sharing it on social media is a powerful commitment device. Also known as self-binding, those who share their goals with others are said to feel a social pressure to achieve what they announced, because making it public knowledge and then failing to achieve it can cause embarrassment. Also, by doing so, you impose on yourself an element of accountability to others, which can also be a powerful motivator.

This, say many behavioural economists, is often enough of an incentive to drive people to stick to their plans and see the process through to the end.

However, there is also psychological research available that suggests that a public statement of your intentions may in fact hinder, not help, your cause.

SOCIAL REALITY

The theory behind this effect is that publicly stating your goal creates a ‘social reality’, which satisfies your self-identity to some degree, even though you haven’t yet achieved anything. This, it seems, makes it less likely that you’ll achieve what you set out to.

The theory of social reality was proposed in 1933 by W. Mahler, who found that if a person announced the solution to a problem, and it was acknowledged by others, it then become a concept in the brain, even if the solution hadn’t actually been achieved.

More contemporary research has since emerged, most notably from New York University psychology professor Peter Gollwitzer, author of the book Symbolic Self-Completion, and a team of researchers including Paschal Sheeran, Verena Michalski, and Andrea Siefert. The group’s research suggests that important life goals involve a commitment to an identity goal – one that ultimately influences a person’s concept of who they are, or their selfidentity.