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Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

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Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#52
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've come into the habit of being seriously skeptical of any scientific work done more than twenty years ago. That has amusing implications for us, twenty years from now.

I think he was talking about behavioral studies.

I would imagine that human nature changes much more slowly than that.

Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#53
post #26
post #11

First of all, I was immediately turned off by this article when it cited a study from 1933 . Sure he used other evidence later, but I've come into the habit of being seriously skeptical of any scientific work done more than twenty years ago. I may be reading this article wrong, but this seems to fly in the face of Steve Blank's customer development model and other wisdoms that are being thrown around these days. To m…

I've come into the habit of being seriously skeptical of any scientific work done more than twenty years ago. That has amusing implications for us, twenty years from now.

Considering that everything I learned in school I learned about 20 years ago, that has "amusing" implications for all the knowledge that most people who went through higher education has received.

Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#54
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he was talking about behavioral studies.

I would imagine that human nature changes much more slowly than that.

You have to take into account the rapid changes in technology. Surely, the Internet has somehow affected human behavior?

Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#55
post #8

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, and then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events…

I find the italic really annoying to read

Italic is more annoying/difficult/straining to read. Seriously. You know how they say hackers don't think about user experience?

Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#56
post #10

I noticed this effect very early on as a kid, where I was often hacking away at some new project or trying to undermine some system. Some of my ideas were pretty exciting, so usually I'd be bursting to pass on my excitement to someone else - usually my parents. (As any entrepreneur can confirm, coming up with a great new idea is very rewarding) However, I never failed to feel like I lost some intrinsic level of motiv…

"Working in secrecy makes you feel like you're about to pounce a revolutionary new idea upon the world and take it by storm."

I wonder if explaining your idea to someone means finding inexact words that end up making your plans seem less majestic or even plausible.

You hear yourself describe what you're doing, and start thinking, hmm, maybe this isn't such a great idea after all ...

Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#57
This is exactly what Friedrich Nietzsche was talking about when he said;

"160. One no longer loves one’s insight enough once one communicates it." [Beyond Good & Evil (1886)]

The story is that Nietzsche returns from his mid-day walk having had what he considers a brilliant idea. He is smiling. He passes an acquaintance who asks him what he is smiling about. He explains the idea.

The instant he does so he regrets it. As he is speaking his mind is suddenly changing, his emotions deflating. The smile becomes a concerned frown. He goes home and writes down number 160. He no longer loved his insight enough. Communication ruined it.

---

The idea is you can never formulate experiences/thoughts into words. The best we have are metaphors which only cheapen the beauty of the original by associating it with the everyday.

Re: Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.

#59
post #44

Does Open source makes you less motivated to accomplish?

How many times have you heard the words "I'll release the code when I've had some time to clean it up", implying it was developed in private.

How many abandoned projects are there on Sourceforge and Freshmeat?

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