I previously discussed settings goals and sharing them with your friends and family as ways to build courage to embark on your journey.
This study on weight loss social support supports the intuitive idea that sharing goals increases accountability:
Engagement with Twitter was related to weight loss and participants mainly used Twitter to provide Information support to one another through status updates.
That is, tweeting about your weight loss goals correlated with actual weight loss.
Meanwhile, here’s a different conclusion of a study on public intentions:
When other people take notice of one’s…behavioral intentions, one’s performance of the intended behaviors is compromised.
The author calls this “social reality” — the idea that there is a “premature sense of completeness” which hinders further goal striving.
So how do we reconcile these conflicting findings? Derek Sivers recommends that you “share goals that give you no satisfaction” so that you get the best of both worlds: accountability without compromise.
I really want to run this marathon so I need to train five times a week and kick my ass if I don’t, ok?
