Should You Keep Your Goals Private or Public?

Some people told you to keep your goals to yourself and some suggest you make your goals public, so should you keep your goals private or public?

This is the question we will look into in this article.

When it comes to setting goals, we need the motivation to stick to our goals to create the results we want.

And one reason most people fail to achieve their goals is that they lack the consistency to persist on with their plan. They know what they need to do, but they just don’t it.

Like if you’re overweight, you know need to follow a strict diet plan and exercise, but you just don’t do it. You don’t have the motivation.

And this is why we want to talk about whether you should make your goals public or keep them to yourself.

If you share your goals with people, and if you fail at them, they may laugh at you. Some people may even think that you’re someone who likes to show off by telling them your big goals in life.

If you keep your goals just to yourself, you may lack the external accountability to stick to your plan. There is no one there to monitor your progress and you may lack the commitment to take action too.

So, what do you do? Do you share your goals with others? Or do you keep your goals to yourself?

You have to understand what kind of person you are

Before you answer the question, I believe you need to first answer another question, “What kind of person are you?”

Are you driven by external accountability and competition? Are you someone who is more introvert or extrovert? Do you like it when someone pushes you and give you pressure on your progress?

You need to know yourself to make things work for you.

Lao Tzu said it best:

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

If you are someone who is driven by competition and you love people to push you for better work and progress, then sharing your goals with others may sound like a good idea.

On the other hand, if you are someone who doesn’t like to be pushed around, you hate competition, and you don’t like to have someone monitor your progress or tell you what to do, then perhaps, you shouldn’t share your goals.

Who are you sharing your goals with?

This is another important question you should ask before you decide whether to share or to keep your goals.

If the people you are trying to share your goals with are people who have the same vision as you, people who support and encourage you, like a mentor or a coach, then, by all means, tell them your goals and let them guide you.

However, if you are trying to share your goals with everybody else, including people who don’t want to see you successful and people who don’t encourage you, then it is better off to just keep your goals to yourself.

You have to understand the main reason why you want to share your goals.

You want to have people to encourage you and support you and you want to have the external accountability and drive to push you to keep going, isn’t it?

But everyone is the same. Sharing your goals with those people who are not helpful will only make the matter worse.

People will laugh at you when you fail. They will tell you, “See? I told you it’s not going to work but you just don’t want to listen to me.”

And most will throw cold water on your face straight.

Like if you want to start an e-commerce business selling handicrafts you created yourself, some people will tell you that it is impossible.

They may tell you that you lack the talent, you don’t have the skills, the competition is too strong, who and who have done it before and it didn’t work out, whatever.

After listening to all the “why” things are not going to work out, you will lose motivation and interest on your goal.

This is why the people who you share your goals with are important.

If you want to share your goals, make sure you share them with people who are supportive and who can encourage you.

And usually, these are the people in the same industry who have done it before. Successful bloggers will tell you that making money from blogging is possible, it may be difficult, but it is possible.

On the contrary, if you tell someone who has never blogged before or someone who has given up on their blogs, they will tell you all THEIR REASONS why it won’t work because they failed.

Did you get it?

If you don’t want to fail at your goals, use my goal setting technique here.

You don’t have to share all of your goals

One more thing you have to understand is that sometimes, you don’t really have to tell everything. Just share your progress, not your goal. And sometimes, you can just share a small part of your goal rather than your entire plan.

For example, if you are trying to build an online business where you have the plan to eventually quit your job, you don’t have to tell it straight to people that you want to quit your job, right?

You don’t have to tell the whole story. This is your goal, and this is your plan. You just need to share what you think can benefit you.

Naysayers will always be there

No matter what you do, there will always be people who don’t believe in your dreams and who will tell you what you want is impossible to achieve.

Naysayers will be naysayers. Even after you have accomplished some decent results, they will say that you are lucky, and things are going to turn around soon.

Hence, understand that you can’t change what people think about you or about your goals. You can only show them the way.

It is not your mission to how people think about you. Instead, you just need to do your part and let your results do the talking.

Sometimes, people may change their minds about you after seeing your hard work and persistence on your goals and dreams. When you show them it can be done, they will start to believe.

But don’t take chances. Just focus on your goals and work on your plan. You don’t have to argue or try to win the conversation.

Remember, your mission is to work on your goals and let the results do the talking.

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

– Walt Disney

Your timing matters too

Yes, the timing when you share or announce your goals matters too.

Here’s the tip – try not to share your goals with people who are not supportive upfront. Do it after you have gained momentum and built some successes.

You don’t want to start from scratch. You don’t want to announce that you want to build an online business so that you can quit your job.

Instead, you can always choose to quietly work on your project until you generated some incomes only then, you choose to share your goals with others.

According to an NYU psychology professor, Peter Gollwitzer who published his study about intention-behavior gap found that once people shared their intentions, it gave them a “premature sense of completeness”.

Just like when you tell people about your big dreams, you feel good, and your mind makes you feel hopeful, but in reality, you don’t take any solid action to reach your dreams at all.

Like reading books and attending seminars that teach you how to achieve what you want, they make you feel hopeful, but at the end of the day, the results will not come if you don’t work on what you have learned.

Conclusion

So, should you keep your goals private or public?

If you have read the article until this point, you should have a clear idea of what you need to do. The answer to the question is both yes and no.

Yes, you should share your goals if you are someone competitive and you have partners who can hold you accountable and encourage you.

No, you should keep your goals to yourself if you are not competitive and don’t have anyone who will support your goals and plan to share with.

Now you know the answer, but where should you start? How do you set goals and make plans to achieve them? Follow my Goal Setting Formula here.