Due: Thursday before 8:30 a.m.
- Watchthe TED Talk by Derek Sivers and take notes.
Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself?language=en
- Answerthe following questions in paragraph form(350-400 words) by typing your response in the comments section below.
- a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
- b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
You will be marked on the quality of your response and your response to other students’ posts:
9-10: Excellent and insightful; response shows superb understanding and critical analysis; contains great details and responds to complex ideas
7-8: Good; response shows thoughtful understanding; contains good details and responds to ideas
5-6: Satisfactory; response shows a basic understanding; contains basic details and responds only to major ideas
3-4: Unsatisfactory; response shows some misunderstanding; contains insufficient details and does not fully respond to the main ideas
1-2: Poor; response shows poor understanding; contains no details and does not respond to the task
EAP 300 
a) What are Sivers’ main points? Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
According to Derek Sivers, just talking about our own goals is not enough to get us closer to our goals.Experiments have proven that talking about our goals to others reduces the likelihood of realization. By talking to others, the mind is deluded into thinking that the goal has already been realized. According to Kurt Lewin, this phenomenon is called “substitution”. The mind feels as if it is real when it is recognized by others. We should resist the temptation to tell others in order to leave the satisfaction of social recognition behind.There is a difference between verbalizing a goal and actually acting on it. Acting is the most important way to realize your goals. When we want to talk to others, we should say not only our own goals but also specific actions along with them, so that we can motivate ourselves and realize our goals.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with him. It is true that verbalizing your goals may give you a sense of accomplishment and make them less likely to be realized. However, I think it is important to share our goals with others. First, publicity will change attitudes.This is called the publicity effect, and it means that by saying it out loud or declaring it to the people around me, what I say will come true. For example, if I say negative words, I will feel negative, and if I say positive words, I will feel positive. Second, I can create an environment where there is no turning back. By declaring our goals to more people, you will be accountable for what I say, which will create the need to seriously achieve our goals without being bound by circumstances. Thirdly , having supporters will motivate me. I am currently able to continue learning English thanks to the support of my family and friends in Japan. Lastly, I can gather information from the people around me. By telling the people around me about my goals, I can get valuable information from them, whereas if I were alone, I would have to frantically scrounge for information, but now that my goals are recognized by the people around me, I may get valuable information from them. For these reasons, I disagree with him.
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Hello, Miumi! I’m Kanon. Thanks for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with your opinion that we can get a motivation by telling others our goals. I also experienced that I could achieve my goal after I told my friends it! There is a big possibility what we want to achieve come true by saying it aloud. And also, I respect your attitude that you appreciate your parents and friends. I am going to appreciate the people around me as you! Thanks so much!!
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Hello Miumi. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with you. I think the friends are so important to make our goals true. We can not get good results only by ourselves, so we should help each other. Therefore ,I also think we should not keep our goals to ourselves.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
This video talks about the negative effect of announce your personal goal. In general, people think that telling your goal to the others is a good way to achieve it. However, from a psychological perspective, it is wrong. That reason is that you will satisfy with telling a goal.
Let me explain in detail. When you announce and be acknowledged your goal to any other people, your mind misunderstand that I can achieve it. It will become a kind of social reality. That’s why people satisfy before they achieve your goal even though they don’t still achieve it. The evidence of it is that many psychologists explain it and prove it by experiment. I’ll explain more about that experiment. 163 people take four tests, and all people write down a personal goal. Half of them announced the goal in front of everyone, and the other half didn’t tell it. And then, they are given 45 minutes of work to would achieve their goal, but they were told that you can stop it whenever you want. When they did, they got this result. Half of them who didn’t tell their goal kept going until the end on average, and when asked later, said that they didn’t feel any satisfaction, moreover, they thought we need to take more time to achieve it. However, those who tell it quit the test after only 33 minutes, and when asked afterward, said that they felt like they are getting closer to achieving their goals. Even though they have only been doing this for a short time, they can satisfy it. That’ s what this video is all about.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I will agree with his conclusion. When I was able to accomplish my goal, I always tried secretly. Conversely, when I told my goal to friend or family or write my goal on a large piece of paper so that others can see it, I usually fail. At that time, I didn’t know Why can’t I stay motivated? But I could find the reason from this video. Often when I would fail, I would proudly tell others about my goals. From next time, I will not tell anyone about my goals, or tell only those who can help me achieve them. That’s why I agree with him.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
In the TED talk, Derek Sivers shows the importance of people keeping their own goals in their minds if they hope to accomplish them. If people who already have heard your dream congratulate you, you will feel a small step closer to reaching your goal. And you’re starting to think of it as a part of your individuality. It makes people feel good, but it makes them less motivated to put forward the effort. According to a study of psychological exams, telling someone your goal decreases your chances of achieving it. In a perfect scenario, you wouldn’t be satisfied until you’d done all the work, but psychologists have shown that when you tell someone your goal and they acknowledge it, this is called a “social reality”. According to another study done by Peter Gollwitzer in 2009, half of the subjects, who wrote down their personal goals and announced their commitment to the room, stopped their working in the middle of the procedure and, when asked afterward, said they felt more closer to achieving their goal. To sum up, his main point is if you said your goal the others, the mind is misled into believing it’s already completed. This satisfaction makes us stop efforts. If you have a situation in which you need to say your goal, you just say the way without getting satisfaction.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with his statement. “Kotodama” is something I believe in. This is a spirit that lives in words, and whatever I spoke must be true, either good or bad. Speaking out and expressing your goals, in my belief, will not allow you to run away from your goals, and it will also increase your chances of meeting more professional persons and opportunities. When I was a salesperson in a company, I always notified my supervisor that I wanted to be in charge of a project using new technology in my career path meeting. I worked in operation management for two years before being picked as one of the top project salespeople using new technology. This experience has helped me realize that I am willing to accomplish my goal; I need to express my goal and always say something to someone who has the potential to improve my circumstances. To summarise, I believe that if you truly want to accomplish your goal, you should speak up and involve others.
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Hi, Nami. thank you for sharing your opinion.
your experience is must be proof that “Kotodama” is truth. I also believe in “Kotodam”. When I was in childhood, I always said that I will become a something who I wanted to be. Even if everyone can not believe it. someday, I got opportunity to close my goal. My father bring me to the UK to get closer the goal. If I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t go there. It might be a little bit different from “Kotodama” but I agree with your opinion that we should speak up.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
He said that telling someone your goal makes it less likely to happen. A psychologist says that if you say someone about your goal, your mind is kind of tricked into feeling that it’s already done, then you can feel satisfied because of the trick, and you can be less motivated to do hard work you are necessary for coming true your goals. This goes against conventional wisdom that believes you should tell someone your goal. In 1926, Kurt Lewin called this substitution. In 1933, Were Mahler found when it was acknowledged by others, it felt real in the mind. In, 1982, Peter Gollwitzer wrote a whole book about this. In 2009 there were new tests that 163 people across four separate tests. Everyone wrote down their personal goal, and half of them announced their goal to the room, and the other half didn’t. And they have 45 minutes of work that is directly related to their goals, and they are told that at any time they can stop the work. On average, people who shut up their mouths continued 45 minutes task, and they are not satisfied. But the other group on average quit the task 33 minutes and they said they are closer to their goal. You should resist the temptation to announce your goals, and you can delay the gratification that the social acknowledgment brings, and you can understand that your mind mistakes the talking for the doing. If you have to state your goal, you have to say it in a way you don’t feel satisfaction.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
In my opinion, saying your dreams can works when your dream is colossal. If your dream is obviously difficult and everyone says that is impossible, you can be motivated If you naturally don’t like to be a loser. I have watched a lot of manga and the protagonists always shout their huge dreams. In addition, they practice in silence and they are big talkers in public. These main characters in manga are my hero and I want to believe that saying our dreams in oral can be good and that makes us motivated.
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Hello Kohei. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with you. I have also experienced that when someone disagrees with me, I become rebellious and motivated. I believe that putting our goals into words is often what drives us to achieve them.
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A ) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
His main point is that when you set a goal and try to achieve it, you have to keep it to yourself and not announce it to others. If you announce your goal to others, you get a little praise from others, which gives you the illusion that you are getting closer to your goal. This will cause you to neglect your efforts, and as a result, you will not achieve your goals. In this Ted Talk, there was an experiment. The experiment revealed that there is a difference in the rate of achievement between those who disclose their goals and those who do not. This is why it’s better to keep your goals in your mind. If you must announce your goals, it is important to announce them in a way that does not give you a sense of complacency. For example, it is a way to tell someone that you want them to punish you if you are not working hard enough on your goals.
Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with his ideas. This is because my experience is the opposite of what he claims. His claim is based on experimentation, and I have no doubt that it is the right thing to do. However, when I have set a goal, I have to announce it to my friends. I didn’t study seriously for my goals when I took the high school entrance exam. However, by telling my friends about my goals, I made sure that I could not escape from the situation. In addition to this, I studied while thinking about the criticism I would receive from my friends if I failed the exam. By doing so, I was able to keep the pressure on myself no matter what situation I was in. It also kept me aware of my goals at all times. As a result, I was able to achieve my goal in the end. From this experience, I think it is important to announce your goals to other people.
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Hello Miumi. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with you. I think the friends are so important to make our goals true. We can not get good results only by ourselves, so we should help each other. Therefore ,I also think we should not keep our goals to ourselves.
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Sorry, never mind
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
Silvers’ main point is that we cannot tell someone what we want to achieve. According to him, we should keep our goals to ourselves. This is because telling someone makes them less likely to happen. It is common that we feel satisfaction by telling someone. It leads that we give up what we want to do easily. If we have a goal, we have to do some steps in order to achieve it. Usually, we cannot be satisfied until we achieve the goal. However, by telling someone a goal, we can get approval, which makes us feel satisfaction easily. Telling someone a goal and being acknowledged by them give us the illusion that we have already achieved it. Because of this, we feel less motivation to do actual hard work. That is why, he insists that we should resist the temptation to want to be acknowledged socially by telling others a goal. He believes that keeping it to ourselves have a big possibility to achieve it.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with Silvers’ conclusion. Of course, I can understand his opinion at some point. It is true that we can feel satisfaction and give up achieving a goal by telling someone it because human beings want to be acknowledged by others. However, telling someone a goal often gives us a motivation to achieve it. This is because we can get a willingness to do something by talking about it with them. For example, if we tell my friends what I want to achieve, I feel that I have to work on it. Saying it out loud and asking others to listen to it make me to feel like I make a promise with them. If we cannot achieve something which we tell s0meone, we will feel ashamed of ourselves. And also, originally, human beings cannot continue doing something easily even if they do not tell someone it. There is a possibility that we abandon what we want to achieve by keeping it to ourselves because nobody knows it. Therefore, telling someone a goal enables us to work on it hard and continue to make an effort to achieve it.
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Hello, Kanon. I completely agree with your viewpoint. “Make a promise,” as you put it, is a great expression. It will be more difficult to change or abandon an objective once we have made a promise. It is an excellent limit for us to maintain our progress.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
Silver claimed that we should keep our goals to ourselves. In other words, we should not reveal our goals to others. Why we should be silence about our goals? According to him, if we do it, we feel good to say it out loud, and we don’t make an effort to achieve good results. The good feeling will make us less likely to do it. He said that in order to make our goals true, there are some steps that need to be done. Ideally you would not be satisfied until we’d actually done the work. To explain it, he used the word “social reality”. This means that the mind is kind of tricked into feeling that it’s already done. In addition to that, he also provided some test results. However, sometimes we do need to talk about something about our goals. Then, we should state it in a way that gives no satisfaction, he said. In these ways, he claimed that when we reveal our goals, we are less motivated to do actual hard work necessary. In conclusion, we should keep our goals to ourselves.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with his conclusion. Certainly, it is sometimes true that when we reveal our goals, we are less motivated to do actual hard work necessary. However, I think it depends on the person. For example, I had a friend who studied so hard. When I told him about my goal, he always cheered me up and when I was about to give up, he always comforted me. Thanks to him, finally I could achieve my goals. I know it was my experience, so I don’t have any evidence. However, in fact, I could make my goal true. His conclusion is not necessarily true for everyone. Even if we reveal our goals, sometimes we can get good results. I think whether one succeeds or not depends on our efforts. I f we have friends who can work with us, we will be successful.
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Good evening, Sou.
Thank you for sharing your opinion.
I agree with your opinion because I think that it is important to have friends who help us achieve our goals. In addition, I realized again that we need to make our own efforts in order to get close to our goals.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
He states that to achieve their goal, people shouldn’t tell about your goal to anybody because if they tell about it, they feel satisfied and they feel that their goal almost achieve. Even if the dream is not achieving. He showed the proof. There were four people and they were separated into two groups. One of them announced their goals to someone. On the other hand, another group did not do that. And then, they had 45 minutes for doing something for their dream. They could stop doing anytime. As a result, the group which didn’t announce was doing it for 45 minutes and they felt that it was not enough to achieve their goal. However, another group did for 30 minutes furthermore, they felt that they don’t need to do anymore because they felt that they are getting closer to that goal. That’s why Siver states that people should keep their goals themselves.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
In my opinion, to achieve our goal is better to tell our friends or family. I think it is depending on our personality though. I have three reasons. Firstly, some people can keep engaging to do it for their goal for a long time by themselves. On the other hand, some people can not keep doing without someone encourage them to make them concentrate their goal to keep doing for a long time. Like me. In my case, I would like someone to tell me “you can do it. As a result, I feel that I can do it as the saying goes. Secondly, if there is a person who has the same goal, we can compete with each other. It could be motivation. And also, by telling my goal to someone, I would get some advice. I think it is an advantage of that. Thirdly, if I said about my goal, I feel that someone is always watching the process of how close I am to that goal, so I feel that I have to finish my tasks. That’s why I believe that telling about our goal can help us to achieve it and I always try to do so.
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Hi! Thanks for sharing your opinion.
I agree with your opinion. Sometimes we need someone to encourage us. In addition, I also sympathize with the fact that we need someone to monitor us because we may give up on our own.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points? Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
Sivers’ main point is that even if we have our own goals, we should not tell them to someone. The reason is that if we tell someone about our goal, we will be satisfied despite the fact that we have not achieved our goal. In addition, We are less motivated to do things due to being satisfied. According to the new test in 2009, it has proven that we should not tell someone about our goal. The way of this test is that there are 163 people who take four separate tests. Then half of people tell their goal to everyone, and half of them did not tell it. Everyone was given 45 minutes to get close to achieving their goal. As a result, people who told everyone about their goal quit after an average of 33 minutes because they think that their dream is getting close to achievement. On the other hand, people who did not tell their goals spent all their time doing them. Therefore, he said that we should not tell our own goals to someone and if we have to tell them, we can tell them not to give the satisfaction.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
The test result is interesting, but I do not agree with Sivers’ conclusion and it depends on the person. The reason is that I can improve my own motivation after telling my goal. It is difficult to achieve a goal without any motivation, so we should not tell someone our own goal if we are less motivated after telling them. Moreover, some people feel pressured to achieve a goal by telling them. In my case, in order to achieve my goal, I need help from someone because I have a limitation on my own what I can do. After telling my goal, some of my friends gave me advice. This advice was meaningful to get close to achieving my goal. Then we were able to support each other by sharing our goals. If I did not tell them, I would also have trouble such as pressure. To sum up, everyone does not need to tell their goal, but I think that sometimes telling a goal will make them feel better.
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Hi, Kento. Thank you for sharing your idea. I completely agree with you.
I think whether talking about your goals will have a positive or negative impact depends on how strongly you feel about your goals. For those who have a goal that they strongly want to achieve, I think that telling someone about their goal can be very beneficial.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points? Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
His main point is that in order to achieve a goal, it is better not to tell anyone about the goal. In other words, even if you have some big goal in your mind, and you want to achieve it, or you want someone to support you, you should try to suppress and resist that wish. The reason why people should not tell other people about their goals is that telling someone about their goals and having someone else acknowledge them will make them feel satisfied even though they haven’t accomplished anything. The phenomenon of feeling satisfied by telling someone about their goals, and having their brain perceive it as if it has been achieved, is called “social reality.” The feeling of satisfaction decreases our motivation to achieve our goal, and as a result, telling someone about our goal makes it less likely that we will achieve it.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I partially agree with his idea. Just talking about a goal and getting someone’s acknowledgement is enough to satisfy, and psychological tests have actually proved his idea. Moreover, I also think there are people who are just saying without doing anything. However, I believe that telling someone about your goals is worth more than the risk. If the person who you talk to about your goals has the same dreams or goals as you, they may become good friends who can help each other improve. By talking about your goals, you become responsible for achieving them. If you keep talking about what you are going to do, people will begin to wonder if you are doing what you said. In addition, if you share your goals with someone you admire and respect, you will think that you should do something more diligently, making you feel tension. I think the important thing to achieve goals is to set proper goals for oneself and to have a strong motivation to continue working for them. Even if you resist telling others about your goals, you will not be able to achieve them unless you have strong motivation to do so. In other words, we don’t need to hide our goals from others if we really want to achieve them.
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Hello, Daisuke~
I feel you because telling someone become good opportunity to build nice relationship! Moreover, we can have intense of achieving our goal with friends. Thank you for sharing your opinion.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
He argues that if you want to achieve your goals and objectives, you shouldn’t talk about them with others. Telling other people about a goal makes them feel good. However, feeling good tends to make people less likely to do anything toward their goals. According to psychology experiments, when you have a goal, there are several things you have to do to achieve it, and you will not feel satisfied until you finish them. On the other hand, if you tell someone about your goal and they accept it, you feel as if you have already achieved it. Furthermore, because you are satisfied, you have less motivation to actually work on your goal. Therefore, he suggests that when you have a goal, it is better to keep it in your mind and not tell anyone. Thus, what is needed to accomplish something is not words, but actions.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I agree with the opinion of Sivers. I’ve always tried to not tell people what I really want to accomplish. I used to think that telling people about my goals would put pressure on me and put me in a situation where I had to do it. However, I felt that the determination I had in my heart had a more positive meaning than the sense of obligation to do it, so I could continue my hard work. In addition to my own experience, Shiver’s claim that telling people about your goals tends to satisfy and lose motivation is persuasive. Furthermore, the evidence he provided is very surprising and interesting, and it strongly supports his claims. On the other hand, if you really want to tell others, you should choose someone who will support and help you with your dreams and goals. Otherwise, you will not get a good influence.
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Hello, Daiki. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I thought your positive agreement makes sense even though my opinion was opposite to yours. Especially, the las idea which is that we should choose people when we tell our goal was applied to everybody. If I have to tell someone about my goal, I want to remind me this idea. Thank you!
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What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
His main point is we should keep our goals to ourselves in order to achieve it. We tell our goal or dream to someone as we start setting these things. Apparently, it is good for us to realize goal and dream. However, according to him, telling someone our goals make them less likely to happen because people feel satisfied with the action. Even though we have a lot of things to do in order to achieve goal, the feeling that it’s already done tricks our mind. It is called “social reality”. Thus, you should keep your mouth close or shut, and keep your goal secret. He also mentioned the research which compare people who announce their goal with people who zip it. As a result, people who zip it can concentrate on achieving their goal for long time on average, while the other quite their work in the middle of testing. As you can see, we should not announce our goal to someone if you achieve it!
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with his conclusion. Although I understand what he said, I think it depends on person. Some people prefer keep their goals secret over telling someone, while some people can have motivation by announcing it. I’m the latter person. By telling someone, I think I should start working anyway, and it makes my goal faithful. Thus, it is good way for person who always feel lazy like me to start something. Moreover, as I achieve my goal, people celebrate my achievement together much greatly than keep it secret through sharing my goal.
You can get feeling fully satisfied with realize your goal and dream.
However, in this video, he mentioned a good way to achieve our goals. Therefore, I don’t know how effective telling someone is for achieving goal, but it is more beneficial for them after work or achieving. In conclusion, telling someone become good opportunity to start working or studying. It is hard for lazy person to start something, so it helps them to avoid this situation.
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Hello, Shiori. Thank you for sharing your opinion. I totally agree with you!
As you mentioned, talking to my friends about my goals helps me put pressure on myself, so I talk to them about my goals too.
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a) What are Sivers’ main points. Why does Sivers say we should keep our goals to ourselves? How does this process work?
Silver showed that people should not tell the other person their goals until they achieve it as his main point. According to him, good feeling will make people less likely to do something. Therefore, if they proclaim their own goal to the others, they would feel becoming closer to their goal and be satisfied. Telling the goal to someone means that someone also acknowledges what you want to do. This will make you feel mistakenly that you became closer to your goals and then you will believe you have enough time to achieve your goal. From this reason, he pointed that the announcement of the goal before achieving it will lead them less motivation for their goals. Actually, he showed one research to make this idea stronger. In that study, 163 people wrote down their own goal. Then, half of them announced their commitment to this goal, and half didn’t. Everyone was given 45 minutes of work and told that they could stop whenever they want. Finally, the former group worked around 45 minutes, but the latter one quit after only 33 min, on average. As a result, it was revealed that people who announced their goal in public felt they had to address harder to achieve their goal, but people who did not do that felt closer to the goal.
b) Do you agree with Sivers’ conclusion? Why or why not?
I disagree with his conclusion because I think telling the goal to someone prevents you from being lazy. When you have so high level goal that you want to tell someone, it often means your goal is difficult to achieve. You might probably focus on achieving the goal, but sometimes there would be a lot of temptation which is difficult for you to turn away from around you. But, if you announce your goal in public, especially in your friends, they would cooperate with you. In addition, their sets of eyes on you would make you keeping doing something for your goal. Environment makes the person. Therefore, I think telling someone the goal is effective to achieve goal.
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