telling people about your plan to “improve things by X” will cause people to generally say, “good on you” and cause your brain to go “I am so good because I did X”, even if you haven’t even started X, before you got to the gym, before you lost weight, before you made any improvement. Your brain will say, “well done, we did it”. this often leads people to not do X because they have already been rewarded for doing it.
Be aware of this, and don’t fall into the trap. Also do not advise people to apply external accountability without this kind of warning. Exernal accountability is great, if applied to people who WILL KEEP YOU ACCOUNTABLE. Not the kind of friends you might see and only talk to every two months, where your accountability will not happen.
Accountability is not simple. Be accountable to reliable and relevant people, not “everyone you know”.
TL;DR; Brains lie to themselves, can reward you for sharing your goals, not completing them. Be accountable to reliable and relevant people, not “everyone you know”.
Warning re:6.
telling people about your plan to “improve things by X” will cause people to generally say, “good on you” and cause your brain to go “I am so good because I did X”, even if you haven’t even started X, before you got to the gym, before you lost weight, before you made any improvement. Your brain will say, “well done, we did it”. this often leads people to not do X because they have already been rewarded for doing it.
Be aware of this, and don’t fall into the trap. Also do not advise people to apply external accountability without this kind of warning. Exernal accountability is great, if applied to people who WILL KEEP YOU ACCOUNTABLE. Not the kind of friends you might see and only talk to every two months, where your accountability will not happen.
Accountability is not simple. Be accountable to reliable and relevant people, not “everyone you know”.
TL;DR; Brains lie to themselves, can reward you for sharing your goals, not completing them. Be accountable to reliable and relevant people, not “everyone you know”.