Symbolic self-completion · also called the announcement effect
why do I feel done after just telling someone my plan
Symbolic self-completion is the relief that comes from telling someone about a change you intend to make, which can feel enough like having made it that the actual motivation to follow through quietly drains away. Because the identity you are reaching for gets a small, real boost just from being spoken out loud, the mind treats the announcement as partial payment on a debt the work was supposed to settle.
You told three people about the plan today and did none of it. You already got paid for that conversation, in a currency that does not buy the result.
What to do about it
Keep the plan private until you have something finished to show for it, and describe it to others only in the past tense.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
Discipline Over Motivation$6.99
Standards Beat Goals$6.99
The 5AM Tax$6.99
Drag The Wand$6.99
No One Cares$6.99
Move Before Mood$6.99
Discipline Versus Motivation$6.99
The Discipline Blueprint$6.99Part of the Discipline series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- why do I feel done after just telling someone my plan
- announcing my goal killed my motivation to actually do it
- I got the congratulations before I did any of the work
- talking about the plan feels like progress and it is not
- I keep telling people what I am going to do instead of doing it
- the praise for my intentions took the pressure off finishing
- why does saying it out loud make me want to do it less
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.