The one sentence summary is a very surprising result. The article made a little more sense when it talked about announcing "satisfactions" (like "I've just bought running shoes, so my plan to run more is going well") versus "dissatisfactions" (like "I really need to run more now that I've got these shoes").
I predict that there will be a strong interaction with type of goal. If it's a goal that can be fudged, like "I'm going to eat less", then probably telling your friends you're going to eat less will cause you not to do it because you've already gotten the status boost and no one can really call you on whether you've succeeded. If it's a goal where completion is obvious, like "I'm going to go back to college", then telling your friends would be a public committment that puts you under pressure to follow through.
Possibly related: Trying to Try
If it's a goal where completion is obvious, like "I'm going to go back to college", then telling your friends would be a public committment that puts you under pressure to follow through.
Pressure to follow through doesn't always mean you'll follow through; sometimes, it means you won't, specifically because of the pressure!
Some people rebel against pressure, even self-applied pressure. Other people crack under it. And some link the negative affect of the pressure to the tasks they need to perform, conditioning themselves to not work on the t...
A blog post by Derek Sivers links to evidence that stating one's goals makes one less likely to accomplish them.
Excerpt:
Link: Shut up! Announcing your plans makes you less motivated to accomplish them.