As professionals, we all have goals we want to achieve. But the question is, should we share them with others or keep them to ourselves?
A widely reported study from 2009, recommended that people should "keep their goals to themselves" as sharing your goals with others makes you feel "less motivated to do the actual hard work" needed to achieve them. It happens because of what is termed as #SocialReality.
When you tell people your goal, and they acknowledge it, your brain is tricked into assuming that it is already done, and you feel satisfied or less motivated to work towards achieving the goals. Our brain can't tell the difference between talking and doing.
However, in a new set of studies, it was found that people showed greater goal commitment and performance when they told their goal to someone they believed had higher status than themselves. On the other hand, it didn’t help people at all to tell their goals to someone they thought had lower status or to keep their objectives to themselves. #EvaluationApprehension is the term researchers use to describe anxiety caused by being supervised, could make you more driven, it could also have a negative effect on your ability or willingness to crush a goal.
Researchers say that sharing your goal with a higher-up does more than keep you accountable, it also makes you more motivated simply because you care what this person thinks of you. For example, telling a mentor or manager about your hopes to get promoted could light a fire under you more than, say, a peer or friend.
Therefore, it is essential to share your goals with the right person who can support and motivate you and avoid seeking validation or impressing others. In summary, sharing your goals can be beneficial or detrimental, depending on who you share them with and why.
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