“The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today.” – Simon Sinek
You’ve probably heard that if you want to achieve an important goal you should announce it to the world so that they can hold you to it. This makes sense logically: if I tell others I’m going to run the marathon, and then I don’t do it, I’ll be embarrassed and I’ll lose credibility. That will ensure that I do it!
But in practice, announcing your big goal actually undermines your chances of achieving that goal. Why would that be? By telling others that you’re going to do something big, you feel like you’ve already taken that first step. You can visualize it happening and you can see yourself having already achieved it. Your friends will congratulate you on taking this important step. That all feels great!
Then the hard work starts and you realize it’s not going to be that much fun. You’ve already gotten a good feeling by announcing it. And the achievement is a long way off. And that’s probably not enough to carry you through to the end.
But if you keep your big goal to yourself, and just start doing the work, you haven’t gotten any validation yet. No good feelings. No dopamine. It’s all just heads-down and taking that next important step. Once you’re a few days or weeks down the road, you can look back and see your progress. THEN that great feeling of accomplishment is truly earned! And it pushes you to continue!
I like how Derek Sivers explains it in this TED video. It’s short and clear.
What big goal are you pursuing? (DON’T TELL ME!) 🤪 Have you achieved a goal that you kept secret? What was the result?