“I make plans but almost never follow them up”

Has this ever happened to you? You get so excited about a new project that you’re overflowing with energy to make it happen.

Here are a few examples:

• Getting into perfect shape
• Persuing extra education
• Buying a house
• Making a career change
• Writing a book
• Starting a business

You start visualizing success down to the smallest detail. You take action, see some first results, and suddenly it feels like anything is possible.

You get so excited that you share your big vision with friends or family… and then, the very next day, your motivation is gone. You can’t follow through. You feel annoyed, disappointed, and maybe even angry at yourself.

Sound familiar?

Why does this “phenomenon” happen?

If you’ve been labeled “inconsistent” or struggle to follow through on your plans, stop beating yourself up. It’s not about laziness.

“Laziness” is really just a lack of motivation.

But what if I told you there’s a simple way to protect your motivation that you may not have considered? A way to stop this “laziness” from showing up and finally get the things you want in life?

The secret is to not reveal your plans too early.

This has nothing to do with superstition. It’s pure psychology.

Every time you share your ambitions before you’ve achieved them, you actually trick your brain into feeling like you’ve already done the work. 

That instant feeling of validation destroys the drive to keep going.

The magic formula that will grant you succeess in anything you do, comes down to just two things – motivation and persistency.

So how does motivation work?

Motivation is what makes you want to do something.

Why do we want to do certain things?

Because our brain’s reward system pushes us toward them. Your brain will only motivate you to do things if they are pleasant or bring you positive results, because those things release dopamine (your brain’s “reward” chemical). Such motivators are :

• seeking food

• getting social validation

• gaining control and power

And here’s the problem: when you share your goals too soon, that hit of social validation gives you dopamine before you’ve done the real work. Your brain feels rewarded, so your motivation to follow through collapses.

The Reason You Want to Share Your Plans in Advance

To get social validation, you need to be liked and admired by others. For this to happen, you have to impress them. People are usually impressed by those they see as being on a higher level – someone who has something they don’t, but want or need.

Here’s the catch: we all crave instant gratification. Since it takes hard work and consistency to follow through on goals until results show, it’s tempting to share our big ideas before we’ve achieved anything.

And that’s dangerous.

When you share your plan too early, people usually respond in one of two ways:

• they get impressed and give you validation OR
• they try to talk you out of pursuing your goal.

At first, you might think sharing only with family is safer. Ironically, it’s worse – because you value their opinion the most. Either way, your motivation takes a hit:

If you get validation too soon → Your brain releases feel-good hormones, tricking you into feeling as if the goal has already been achieved. With the task removed from your mental “to-do list,” your motivation fades and you get lazy.

If you get disapproval → You’ll start doubting yourself, overthinking, and may end up quitting altogether. After all, nobody wants to risk failing and having people witness that!

How Keeping Your Plans Secret Is a Game-Changer

• You’ll keep your motivation high, because you won’t get social approval before achieving your goals.
• You won’t be distracted by other people’s fears and doubts about whether you’ll succeed.
• You’ll prevent anyone with poor intentions from sabotaging your future success.
• You’ll eliminate the fear of failure, because nobody will witness it anyway.

How to Keep Working Toward Your Goals in Secret

To stick with your goals without anyone knowing, you need to make the process more exciting for yourself.

One way is to create a vision board with everything you want to achieve. Keep visualizing the day when you’ll finally reveal your results – as if they appeared out of thin air.

Also, prepare some harmless excuses in advance for when people ask questions:

• “I’ve been working overtime.”
• “Just busy with chores.”
• “I already ate.” (if you’re on a diet).

Make it your top priority that no one has a clue you’re working toward something.

There’s a special kind of satisfaction in working on something only you know about. And because nobody expected it, the surprise of your results will make people admire you even more, once you reveal them!

• If you want to get into shape – plan your meals privately and go to the gym without telling anyone.
  
• If you’re learning a language – don’t share it until you’ve completed the course.
  
• If you want to buy a house – start saving and research the estate market in secret. If you ever ask your friends’ opinions, don’t show you’re asking for yourself.

And if you want a real-life story of secret success, look up Ronald Read – the janitor who quietly became a millionaire.

The Psychology Behind “Unfinished Business”

When you keep your plans secret, you are preventing your brain from rewarding you with feel-good hormones too early – before the goal is actually accomplished. So your brain keeps pushing you to achieve it.

In other words, your brain treats your plans as unfinished business. And as long as something feels unfinished, your mind will motivate you to follow through!

That’s why keeping quiet can be such a powerful tool – it tricks your brain to stay focused until the goal is actually accomplished.

Was this helpful?

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TheThinkAbout is a website based on psychology in practice and experience.

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