Why You Can't Talk About Your Plans In Advance

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Video: Why You Can't Talk About Your Plans In Advance

Video: Why You Can't Talk About Your Plans In Advance
Video: How to talk about future plans – Future in English - Spoken English lessons 2024, March
Why You Can't Talk About Your Plans In Advance
Why You Can't Talk About Your Plans In Advance
Anonim

Lose weight. To learn English. Run every morning. Every time we set a new personal goal, we share this news with friends, parents, and work colleagues. We tell them we're going to do this and that. Or we are happy to announce that we have already started doing it.

Then, in 95% of cases, it turns out that what was started is not completed. Why can't you talk about your plans in advance? And why are goals more often achieved that we do not tell anyone about?

Interesting experiment

German psychology professor Peter Gollwitzer has been studying this phenomenon for over 15 years. He once conducted an interesting experiment. As experimental mice, Gollwitzer selected a group of law students. The purpose of the experiment: to find out whether public statements about their intentions affect the achievement of personal goals.

To do this, Gollwitzer compiled a list of statements like: “I am going to take as much as possible from legal education,” “I am going to become a successful lawyer,” and so on. Students had to rate each of the statements on a scale from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”.

The survey was conducted anonymously. If desired, you could write your name. Also, in the questionnaires, students were asked to list three specific things they are going to do in order to become a successful lawyer. Typical responses were “I intend to read legal periodicals regularly” or something like that.

When the students submitted the questionnaires, Peter Gollwitzer found that most of the students answered the questions and signed their names. Some did not complete the questionnaires at all and kept their intentions a secret.

Those who have kept their intentions a secret …

The students did not suspect that their intentions would be tested in practice. They handed in their profiles and forgot about it. But the researchers, led by Peter Gollwitzer, are up to something …

Psychologists waited some time, and then artificially created a situation to check the respondents “for lice”:-) They asked students to help them in a project that required the analysis of twenty criminal cases. The students were told that they should work as hard as they can. At the same time, everyone has the right to “score” for help and leave at any time.

The criminal cases were not easy. They demanded that the brains be turned on to the fullest and perseverance. The results of the experiment were unambiguous. Everyone who publicly announced their intentions for the future in the questionnaire has “merged” from work. They shied away from achieving their goal. And this despite dedication to the idea of building a career in the field of jurisprudence!

Only those who kept their hopes to themselves were able to really do the hard work and get what they started to finish.

Why do people tell others about their intentions?

Gollwitzer believes it has to do with a sense of identity and wholeness. We all want to be perfect people. But declaring our intentions to work hard and hard is often a purely symbolic act. It just helps us to define ourselves with our role. For example: “I am a lawyer”, “I am a writer”, “I am a photographer”, “I am a programmer”.

But the insatiable Peter Gollwitzer did another experiment to further convince himself that he was right. The students were shown five photographs of the Supreme Court. The photographs differed in size. Very small to very large. The subjects were asked, "How do you feel like a great lawyer now?"

Subjects were asked to rate their coolness and answer the question by choosing one of five photographs. The larger the photo you choose, the more complete you will feel.

No one was surprised when students who had previously stated their goals and failed in practice were inclined to choose a larger photo. Even just announcing their plans to become a good lawyer made them feel like they were already good lawyers. This increased their egos, paradoxically reducing their ability to do hard work. They became legends in their imaginations. And legends don't do dusty and dirty work.

So, talk less, and do more, reaching the TOP!

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