Don’t Share Your Resolutions!

One of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, wrote this today on his blog about keeping resolutions. I completely agree. If I tell people my resolutions, I feel like I don't even need to keep them because I've already gotten the satisfaction of people knowing that these are goals that I think are worthy of achieving. What? I know, right?

Don’t Share Your Resolutions!

I heard a lecture recently in which the speaker talked about goals, and how powerful they are. He did say, however, that we shouldn’t share our goals, if possible. In fact, if you shared your resolution in public, you’re already at a disadvantage. When you share a goal publicly, your brain enjoys the sharing in the same way it enjoys the achievement itself, and you’ve lost some of your motivation. This surprised me, but it also made sense.

Instead, he said, set some goals and write them down. Then take each of those goals and break them down into daily habits like “making a to do list every day” or “eating less than 100 grams of carbs per day” or whatever it will take. Put a deadline on those tasks that is realistic, saying you’ll do it by such and such a day, or you’ll do it for this long and then reevaluate. After that, just don’t talk about it.

We are all motivated socially. We are motivated when our friends think highly of us. But this year, instead of being motivated by our friends being impressed with our goals, we can be fulfilled when we have accomplished them.