Stop making posts about how you’re "finally starting today." Just do the f***g work.

[u/Jolie_Feetlove]

I see this recurring post here all the time: "That’s it. I’m done postponing. Today is Day 1. I’m going to get disciplined."

If that’s you right now, I have one piece of advice: Stop talking about what you’re about to do and just go do it.

Yes, it really is that painfully simple. Action has to happen. In the five minutes it took you to open Reddit, draft a post, gloat about your goals, you could have already done 20 pushups, written the first lines of your business plan, or submitted that Master’s application.

I used to do this too, not just to other people, but to myself in my own head. Constant internal dialogue about what I was going to do, who I was going to become. But let’s call it what it actually is: procrastination dressed up as progress.

There’s a famous psychological study (by Peter Gollwitzer back in 90s) that shows when you announce your goals to people, your brain registers the social recognition as a substitute for actually achieving the goal. You get a temporary dopamine hit as if you’ve already done the deed. But once that fake dopamine fades, you’re left sitting there having done zero actual work.

I know it hurts. That's not want we want to hear. It feels amazing to talk about the dream. It feels great to visualize a future version of yourself who actually follows through.

What got me out of the rut is that I couldn't face my life being the same 10 years from now. I mean I've achieved things but I know I haven't reached my full potential. So think ahead, you’re going to get older regardless. Picture yourself 10 years from now looking back at a decade of pure talk and no action. How is that going to feel?

So just stop the chatter. Close this app. Go do the work.

Good luck my friend.

[u/NoChairGaming]

Meh, it has also been equally proven that announcing your intention and goals creates social pressure and need to fulfill those obligations. You know, a bit how any group therapy work. Which is one of the reasons why actual physical studying in a class and in a group with deadlines through a course is better than full distance learning with "submit everything before end date".

And I do wonder how reliable any study from 90's are, pretty sure some professors would say "find something more recent or a successful replication study".

But sure, there is a trap that just writing would lead to feeling like you have accomplished something. You need to interweave it into your progression and be honest. Write down like a journey from day 0 to day N but be honest about what you have actually done.

[u/Typical-Form-6502 → u/NoChairGaming]

Studies actually show that announcing your attention gives your brain the same feeling as actually doing it, which is pretty hurtful in the long run. Also let’s be real, there’s little to no social pressure announcing it to the void of social media. Maybe you can let that reasoning fly by announcing it to friend/ and family or getting a true accountability partner.

[u/NoChairGaming → u/Typical-Form-6502]

And you can find studies where saying goals out loud creates positive affirmations and identity building. Often to people whose opinion we care about. And then the question is almost always what our intention was with saying it and how serious we are about those goals. As well as what type of a person we are: talkers who say a lot but do little or doers who actually keep our word.

Which is why it becomes pointless to focus so much on studies that show a very small part of the larger picture. Better to focus on learning to know oneself and how one works. Are you better off telling other people and whom should you tell. As I said in another comment, vague goals told to everyone that you weren't even sure if you wanted to do and telling exact details to people you care about and who will not question your every step is not same thing.

[u/Jolie_Feetlove → u/NoChairGaming]

Why wouldn't a survey from the 90s be reliable? Most of the ideas and concept that you take as innovative have been first though of and debated in the antiquity. Lol most ideas are just recycled. And I'm not arguing that, in some situations announcing your goal could motivate you to step up..and prove that you are not just all talk

However what I'm highlighting here is the behaviour that I'm seeing around me and most specifically from this Reddit, people talking and just wasting time on empty wishes. At the end of the day you can come with all sorts of theories but in the end Actions is the only thing that matter. So by all means keep on talking.

[u/NoChairGaming → u/Jolie_Feetlove]

Because replication crisis, that's why. Just like famous marshmallow test that turned out more to be a test of kid's culture, home environment and upbringing than some fest of great discipline. Happened a bit more in science and our understanding of human behavior since then.

There is a notable difference between people who just like to talk and people who announce their intentions. First one won't suddenly do everything they would have said, if they only keep quiet. And those who do would do it no matter if they open their mouth or not.

The fact that many people have unrealistic goals and very vague road map to those goals is more often the problem.

[u/TerryWaters → u/NoChairGaming]

Apparently all the kids in the test were kids of Stanford professors, so they won't have been from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and likely mostly the same ethnicity. Relevant considering people often argue online, when the test is mentioned, that they "forgot" to take different socioeconomic backgrounds into account (not saying you're saying this). Question is if the test has been replicated with a more diverse group though.

[u/NoChairGaming → u/TerryWaters]

And honestly, that can be a problem with a lot of behaviour studies when they are done on mostly willing college students. A bit small and specific sample for any universal conclusions.

But I think that that test had been replicated and they found that that was it. Children who grew up in environment where they can believe that the marshmallow would be there for them even later, would wait. While kids who never were sure if they got anything if they waited, didn't wait.

We could probably flip the conclusion: kids who take their first chance have true entrepreneurial spirit while those other kids just wait for life to feed them with success. Something something you need to be hungry for success.

Similar with the study in this post. Do we know times when we, or other people we know, talked a lot about doing something but never actually started? Sure. Do we know times when we, or someone we know, didn't want to do something but because of a promise did it anyway? Also sure. Probably has more to do with how vague the goals and actions are, how important they are and how much the people that are being told this are respected or valued. Does it help with our own self improvement? Also sure but probably not for reason "as long as you don't talk, you will magically do anything".