A Finer Way to Fail

Shuuussssh. Do. not. say. a. word.

No matter how tempting it is, keep. your. mouth. shut.

That's what Derek Sivers has to say about goals in this 3 minute TED talk, as shared by the folks at FinerMinds.

Well, I'm still learning, so of course I've done it wrong. Apparently, by sharing my goals here, or anywhere for that matter, I'm setting myself up for failure.

I had thought that by declaring publicly, I would have to 'come through with it.' But their experiments indicate otherwise and I do admit my progress is slower than I would like.

Sivers' four recommendations are:

1. Resist the temptation to announce your goal, (too late, too late!)
2. Delay the gratification that comes from social acknowledgement,
3. Understand that the mind mistakes talking for doing, and
4. If you do need to share, say it in a way that does not create satisfaction, such as "I am getting my body into peak physical condition, which means I need to train five days a week for a minimum of three hours per day."

And ...

"Kick my butt if I don't do it."

Ok, since I've already violated the first term, is there a way to turn it around to my advantage? I would hate to think I'm already doomed and have no other options now that I've blabbed my way to failure.

Besides this goes against my basic philosophy that there is always a way. That is, in most cases -- except for death and taxes.

And tall dark men.

As well, I confess I don't really understand what it means to delay the gratification that comes from social acknowledgement (#2) ... maybe it just means not to let it go to your head when people encourage you.

So ... to my feet it will go from now on. :)

In addition, when I hear that the mind mistakes talking for doing, I wonder how I can harness this to my benefit.

For example, I have heard of people taking advantage of the mind-body connection to create physical fitness and weight loss purely by thinking about it. Is this be possible? I would like to experiment to see.

I also admit that I don't really like people kicking my butt when I come up short. I want people to encourage me and remind me of what I've accomplished so far. I know I must do for myself; at the right time, though, support can be critical.

Or, maybe I do just really need the opposite. 

A good kick in the do-fus.