/improve/ - Self Improvement

Actually makes a lot of sense, thanks OP.

>>1751
I think it depends on how you conceptualise the act of sharing your goals with people. If you conceptualise it as an act of progress, then you are less likely to pursue your goal, however, if you conceptualise it as an act of commitment, you will probably be more likely to pursue said goal.
There was actually a study on this too:
http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-3514.91.2.232

What the study found was that when people conceptualized their success on the subgoal as a form of progress, they were less likely to pursue the overarching goal, because the completed subgoal was seen as an acceptable “substitute” for other subgoals. This fits with an idea proposed by Peter Gollwitzer and colleagues(Your link above) suggesting that public commitment might undermine superordinate goal progress if people view this act of commitment as an acceptable substitute for pursuing other subgoals that would actually be more helpful. When people conceptualized their success on the subgoal as a form of commitment rather than progress, on the other hand, they were actually more likely to pursue the overarching goal, as the other subgoals were seen as complementary and consistent with the persona to which he/she had already publicly committed. This fits in more with this study http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167811608000839

So tl;dr before you share with your friends that you are doing this or that think about whether or not you’re conceptualizing it as an act of progress or an act of commitment. Just make sure that you think about your sharing as having committed you to that goal and don’t make the mistake of thinking that sharing with people your goals will make up for a month of lazyness.

Also, I think it is a bit of a stretch to say that announcing your goals on an anonymous image board will make you less likely to pursue it, especially considering nobody knows you and you don't know them so your social status is pretty much irrelevant. You can point out that places like /r9k/ have a high failure rate of no gf/no life but then what about places like /fit/? That motivates people to train and generally has a good atmosphere for improvement? I think in this case it's more to do with birds of a feather flock together, that you if you surround yourself with losers you will become one, if you surround yourself with people that want to improve, you will want to improve.

>>1757
>however, if you conceptualise it as an act of commitment, you will probably be more likely to pursue said goal.
What about all those new years resolutions? They are by all means commitments yet fail. there has to be something more than simple conceptualization. What I think happens is that too much positivity leads to failure because of unrealtistic goals. When you announce your goals typically you do so when you're in a very positive state of mind. It's probably more of a correlation than a causation but it's something to be noted. Announcing them probably also puts undue pressure on you to succeed to prove yourself as well.

>That motivates people to train and generally has a good atmosphere for improvement? I think in this case it's more to do with birds of a feather flock together, that you if you surround yourself with losers you will become one, if you surround yourself with people that want to improve, you will want to improve.

I think you're right on this. Perhaps we should make sure that /improve/ doesn't follow on either path either of unrealistic expectations(/fit/ and having results in months that take years) or having suicidal negativity(a la /r9k/ where even taking a step in the right direction is hard).

I think that there is a firm middle must be had on /improve/ where positivity meets a good dose of skepticism.

We should look into this more and come to a conclusion, maybe even make the sticky!

>>1758
>What about all those new years resolutions? They are by all means commitments yet fail.
You are forgetting that there are other factors involved here, like improper planning, poor motivation and procrastination. For example, most people rely on motivation to help them change, which is exactly why they fail when it inevitably runs out. Not to mention those exact same people probably don't start small, but instead start big because they want immediate results(I used to be like that). A statement of commitment can't compensate for the latter, words are useless if you can't put things into action. However, if those exact same people who constantly proclaim "new year, new me" every year, knew the theory on how to approach changing oneself, a statement of commitment would probably compliment that.

That's what I think /improve/ should focus on, giving people the tools, the environment and support to be able to change themselves.

>I think that there is a firm middle must be had on /improve/ where positivity meets a good dose of skepticism.
>We should look into this more and come to a conclusion, maybe even make the sticky!
Agreed, this study was pretty interesting.

Seems it would depend a lot on your reason for sharing your goals.

If you go around telling everyone your goals so they'll compliment you and say how ambitious you are, then that's hardly gonna motivate you to actually reach your goals since you've already received the praise for it. This is largely a symptom of a person who values outside validation over their own opinions of themselves.

If you share your goals with a like-minded group in hopes of receiving advice, information and support in your efforts, then I'd wager this would actually increase your chances of success.