![\"Why](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2020\/01\/goals1.jpg\")
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\u201cI\u2019m going to lose 50 pounds!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to write a novel!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to pay down my debt!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to start a podcast!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to launch my own business!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ve probably seen these sorts of posts on social media from friends and family members. <\/span><\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019ve made them too. <\/span><\/p>\n People often share their goals out of sheer excitement, feeling that telling the world will only fan the flames of their motivation. <\/span><\/p>\n So too, folks make public declarations of their goals in the hope of increasing their accountability and making it more likely that they\u2019ll accomplish their aims; they\u2019re looking to leverage the fear of embarrassment in not following through as a way to keep themselves on track.<\/span><\/p>\n At least, that\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to work in theory. <\/span><\/p>\n But when you follow up with goal proclaimers a few months after they shouted their good intentions from the rooftops, you\u2019ll likely find that they haven\u2019t made much progress or have given up on their fledgling projects altogether. <\/span><\/p>\n What gives? <\/span><\/p>\n Well, counterintuitively, sharing your goals with others can actually sow the seeds of your failure. You\u2019d be better off just keeping your mouth shut and quietly getting to work instead. <\/span><\/p>\n Below we explain why.<\/span><\/p>\n The first issue with sharing your goals with others is that it doesn\u2019t create the kind of accountability you\u2019d think.<\/span><\/p>\n When it comes to motivation, <\/span>sticks are often more powerful than carrots<\/span><\/a>, and it\u2019s certainly true that the particular stick of potential shame and embarrassment can be an especially potent driver of action. ABC\u2019s <\/span>Primetime<\/span><\/i> demonstrated this fact in 2009 when they did a special on losing weight. They found a group of people who were overweight and had made it a goal to shed some pounds and brought them into the studio to be photographed while wearing only swimsuits. The photoshoot captured in vivid high-dimension all the insecurities the participants had about their bodies. <\/span><\/p>\n But the producers didn\u2019t stop there.<\/span><\/p>\n They also made a deal with these overweight people: if they lost 15 pounds over the next two months, the bathing suit photos would be destroyed and no one else would ever see them; if they failed, <\/span>Primetime <\/span><\/i>would show the photos on national television for millions of Americans to gawk at and cringe over.<\/span><\/p>\n This accountability system worked. All the contestants except for one lost the requisite weight and had their swimsuit photographs destroyed. <\/span><\/p>\n The threat of embarrassment in front of a national TV audience worked as an effective stick for weight loss. <\/span><\/p>\n So why doesn\u2019t sharing your goals with someone or making them public on social media work the same way?<\/span><\/p>\n Because when you simply share your goals, there isn\u2019t much of a threat for failing to follow through with them.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you tell a friend about your goal to lose weight. They pat you on the back and say, \u201cAtta boy!\u201d But by the next week, they\u2019ve largely forgotten about your resolution. They\u2019ve got their own life to live and their own personal goals to accomplish. They don\u2019t have the bandwidth to keep track of <\/span>your<\/span><\/i> goals too. If they see you digging into a Bloomin\u2019 Onion, that might trigger a recollection of your resolution, but unless they\u2019re <\/span>very <\/span><\/i>close with you, they\u2019re unlikely to say, \u201cHey pal, weren\u2019t you going on a diet?!\u201d Most friends and family members won\u2019t remember to check in with you about your goals, and will find it too awkward to hold your feet to the fire.<\/span><\/p>\n The same goes for social media declarations. You\u2019d think because you\u2019re sharing your goal with hundreds or thousands of people, you\u2019d be more likely to follow through on it, lest you look like a doofus in front of such a large \u201caudience.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n But nope. <\/span><\/p>\n Your goal statement is one of a bazillion things people will see pop up in their various social media feeds. Someone might pause for a second to give you an emoji fist bump, but then they\u2019ll keep on scrolling. Your goal quickly dissolves into the ocean of gigabytes pouring into their brains. They\u2019re not likely to follow up with you in a few months to see how you\u2019re making out with your project, because they\u2019ve forgotten all about it. If you fail at your goal, there\u2019s not likely to be any social consequences, and the tweet or Facebook post in which you prematurely planted your flag will have been buried deep within the infinite pile of internet information.<\/span><\/p>\n Public proclamations of goals, whether verbalized to friends or posted on social media, don\u2019t work simply because they\u2019re not designed with enough stick to make them compelling motivators. They don\u2019t require you to <\/span>put sufficient skin in the game<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, a public statement of a goal <\/span>could<\/span><\/i> work as an effective motivator, but you\u2019d have to make the consequences of failing to comply with your intention hurt more. A lot more. <\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019d have to do something similar to what the producers of <\/span>Primetime <\/span><\/i>did with the weight loss episode. If your goal is to lose weight, maybe you declare that your friend will post pictures of you shirtless unless you lose 15 pounds in two months. <\/span><\/p>\n Another way to create a pinch over the failure to comply with public intentions is to attach a financial penalty to it. Let\u2019s say you tell a friend that your goal is to write a book by the end of the year, and that if you don\u2019t make good on this commitment, you\u2019ll pay him X amount of dollars. The amount is up to you, but remember, for it to work, the penalty has to hurt, acutely. $100 probably won\u2019t cut it. $1,000 and you\u2019ll feel the stick hovering over your head. You can set up penalties like these on the website stickk.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Bottom line: Sharing your goal with others <\/span>can <\/span><\/i>work to hold you accountable, but only if the consequences of failure are sufficiently severe. Just telling your buddy or sharing a post on Instagram isn\u2019t going to cut it.<\/span><\/p>\n Be sure to listen to my podcast interview with Barry Nalebuff for even more insights:<\/strong><\/p>\nSharing Your Goals Doesn’t Create a Compelling Enough Stick<\/h3>\n