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For me it's very important that I don't discuss projects with friends / family / colleagues etc. until I really have something to show. I have always found it

For me it's very important that I don't discuss projects with friends / family / colleagues etc. until I really have something to show. I have always found it very easy to talk all the energy out of a good idea before I've even got any real work done.

hectorlorenzo 9y ago
That's a thing. Expressing in public your desire to achieve something makes you less likely to deliver. http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Seifert_Michalski_When_Intentions_.pdf http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Se...
- owebmaster 9y ago
  I don't agree with this reasoning. Expressing in public your projects is a compromise and it can help you keep developing it when people ask if it is ready. If you are going to abandon your projects, not telling people will not help you succeed, it will only spare you the shame and effort explaining why you droped another project.
  - hectorlorenzo 9y ago
    A little bit of pop psychology from my end... I don't think people start projects with the conscious intention of building identity, but with a genuine intention of delivering. I do think, though, that there's a small (or big!) part of your unconscious brain that binds these efforts to an overarching persona-building (both inwards and outwards) project. Although unconscious, it contributes to this net energy. I guess that this communicating your intentions satisfies this portion of your brain, and reduces the amount of energy involved in the project.
    - owebmaster 9y ago
      Sure, this makes sense. I just don't think (using only myself as a reference, which is totally biased) that this effect has a bigger impact than the social pressure the public compromise creates.
  - juiyout 9y ago
    It is curious for me. I will not do something if I don't want to do it anymore. If my perceived integrity is the only thing that gets hurt, so be it. If someone else could get hurt, I push through.
    - juiyout 9y ago
      On another note, I believe integrity could be unnecessarily valued sometimes. My (limited) experience in business field told me that there is no friend or enemy, but profit. Profit trumps integrity almost every time in business decisions. I don't think VC deals with integrity of founder in absolute term either. If potential benefit outweigh risk after calculation, then greenlight it is. Very much perceived as disloyal Steve Jobs, I don't think he got around by integrity.
- jnwatson 9y ago
  Fascinating. I've tried to use talking about a project as a commitment device. Looking back on my many projects, the feeling of delivering on an external commitment seems much weaker than the urgency of "wait 'til my colleagues see this!"
- CuriouslyC 9y ago
  The weird thing is the same situation works in reverse as well. Publicly declaring your intention to quit a habit or lose weight has also been shown to increase success in some instances. I think it depends on whether people reward you with positive regard for stating an intention to do something, and whether you look foolish if you don't do the thing you stated. When you can get the reward just for the statement and there is no consequences for failure, pre-stating your intention seems harmful. On the other hand, if you are not rewarded for pre-statement, and failure is embarrassing, pre-stating your intention seems helpful.
  - donquichotte 9y ago
    This is how it works for me, I'm afraid of losing face, so I'll just bite the bullet and do what my former self promised.
  - juiyout 9y ago
    I have observed this vastly "bipolar" results amongst my friends as well. Some take public declaration to heart and they ram through their goals. However I quickly lose interest of the project after I told everybody. I would go extra length to surprise and dish out cool stuff more often I care to finish side project only because I said I will do it. I somehow concluded that I don't care about approvals on my 'integrity' yet I highly value my 'creativity' viewed by others.
mikegerwitz 9y ago
I find that exclaiming publicly what it is I want to do has a level of gratification (hey, look at this cool idea!) that would otherwise turn into excitement/anticipation during development. That initial gratification might be enough to stall/kill the project.
- grogenaut 9y ago
  To say it another way maybe you didn't actually want to build it just think it through. Rubber duck design and realize it's not the greatest idea
  - mikegerwitz 9y ago
    I've had plenty of ideas that I'd love to see through and think are great, I just don't have the time to do them. Since my time is so limited, I have to choose to focus on one project, or I end up with a ton of unfinished ones (which is the case). So unless I have strong motivation to complete a project (which can be compromised by some sort of gratification), it stalls. But the majority of mine stall for other reasons; I don't usually announce/discuss them.
Allower 9y ago
Yeah, that usually means its a shit idea. Talking about it helps you figure that out before you really spend a lot of time down the rabbit hole.
zimpenfish 9y ago
> I have always found it very easy to talk all the energy out of a good idea To me, that would suggest it wasn't a good idea in the first place.
- xwvvvvwx 9y ago
  Not sure that really matters. Either way I learn a lot more by building a bad idea than I do by talking about it.
InitialLastName 9y ago
I'm not at all religious, and I'm deeply sorry for bringing up religion, but the only scriptural quote that has resonated with me is 1 Kings 20:11: > The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: 'One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.'"
- robertlagrant 9y ago
  Dude, why are you apologising so profusely? Your beliefs are not a problem either way!
jmkni 9y ago
Yep, as soon as you start talking about it, people start congratulating you, your reward system kicks in in your primitave lizard brain, and you don't bother actually doing it because you've already been rewarded.
arosier 9y ago
I can totally relate.

hectorlorenzo 9y ago

That's a thing. Expressing in public your desire to achieve something makes you less likely to deliver. http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Seifert_Michalski_When_Intentions_.pdf http://www.psych.nyu.edu/gollwitzer/09_Gollwitzer_Sheeran_Se...

owebmaster 9y ago
I don't agree with this reasoning. Expressing in public your projects is a compromise and it can help you keep developing it when people ask if it is ready. If you are going to abandon your projects, not telling people will not help you succeed, it will only spare you the shame and effort explaining why you droped another project.
- hectorlorenzo 9y ago
  A little bit of pop psychology from my end... I don't think people start projects with the conscious intention of building identity, but with a genuine intention of delivering. I do think, though, that there's a small (or big!) part of your unconscious brain that binds these efforts to an overarching persona-building (both inwards and outwards) project. Although unconscious, it contributes to this net energy. I guess that this communicating your intentions satisfies this portion of your brain, and reduces the amount of energy involved in the project.
  - owebmaster 9y ago
    Sure, this makes sense. I just don't think (using only myself as a reference, which is totally biased) that this effect has a bigger impact than the social pressure the public compromise creates.
- juiyout 9y ago
  It is curious for me. I will not do something if I don't want to do it anymore. If my perceived integrity is the only thing that gets hurt, so be it. If someone else could get hurt, I push through.
  - juiyout 9y ago
    On another note, I believe integrity could be unnecessarily valued sometimes. My (limited) experience in business field told me that there is no friend or enemy, but profit. Profit trumps integrity almost every time in business decisions. I don't think VC deals with integrity of founder in absolute term either. If potential benefit outweigh risk after calculation, then greenlight it is. Very much perceived as disloyal Steve Jobs, I don't think he got around by integrity.
jnwatson 9y ago
Fascinating. I've tried to use talking about a project as a commitment device. Looking back on my many projects, the feeling of delivering on an external commitment seems much weaker than the urgency of "wait 'til my colleagues see this!"
CuriouslyC 9y ago
The weird thing is the same situation works in reverse as well. Publicly declaring your intention to quit a habit or lose weight has also been shown to increase success in some instances. I think it depends on whether people reward you with positive regard for stating an intention to do something, and whether you look foolish if you don't do the thing you stated. When you can get the reward just for the statement and there is no consequences for failure, pre-stating your intention seems harmful. On the other hand, if you are not rewarded for pre-statement, and failure is embarrassing, pre-stating your intention seems helpful.
- donquichotte 9y ago
  This is how it works for me, I'm afraid of losing face, so I'll just bite the bullet and do what my former self promised.
- juiyout 9y ago
  I have observed this vastly "bipolar" results amongst my friends as well. Some take public declaration to heart and they ram through their goals. However I quickly lose interest of the project after I told everybody. I would go extra length to surprise and dish out cool stuff more often I care to finish side project only because I said I will do it. I somehow concluded that I don't care about approvals on my 'integrity' yet I highly value my 'creativity' viewed by others.

mikegerwitz 9y ago

I find that exclaiming publicly what it is I want to do has a level of gratification (hey, look at this cool idea!) that would otherwise turn into excitement/anticipation during development. That initial gratification might be enough to stall/kill the project.

grogenaut 9y ago
To say it another way maybe you didn't actually want to build it just think it through. Rubber duck design and realize it's not the greatest idea
- mikegerwitz 9y ago
  I've had plenty of ideas that I'd love to see through and think are great, I just don't have the time to do them. Since my time is so limited, I have to choose to focus on one project, or I end up with a ton of unfinished ones (which is the case). So unless I have strong motivation to complete a project (which can be compromised by some sort of gratification), it stalls. But the majority of mine stall for other reasons; I don't usually announce/discuss them.

Allower 9y ago

Yeah, that usually means its a shit idea. Talking about it helps you figure that out before you really spend a lot of time down the rabbit hole.

zimpenfish 9y ago

> I have always found it very easy to talk all the energy out of a good idea To me, that would suggest it wasn't a good idea in the first place.

xwvvvvwx 9y ago
Not sure that really matters. Either way I learn a lot more by building a bad idea than I do by talking about it.

InitialLastName 9y ago

I'm not at all religious, and I'm deeply sorry for bringing up religion, but the only scriptural quote that has resonated with me is 1 Kings 20:11: > The king of Israel answered, "Tell him: 'One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.'"

robertlagrant 9y ago
Dude, why are you apologising so profusely? Your beliefs are not a problem either way!

jmkni 9y ago

Yep, as soon as you start talking about it, people start congratulating you, your reward system kicks in in your primitave lizard brain, and you don't bother actually doing it because you've already been rewarded.

arosier 9y ago

I can totally relate.