TED Talk Tuesday #96 – Keep your goals to yourself

Watching TED Talks is a popular pastime at CN&CO. We visit TED.com regularly to clear our heads, have a laugh, or get inspired. TED Talks open our minds, spark new ways of thinking, and can lead to some very interesting conversations. Each week we pick a favourite and publish it on a Tuesday, because we like how “TED Talk Tuesday” sounds. This week’s talk was posted by CN&CO’s Allan Bader. Here’s why he chose it:

This question has been playing on my mind for the last few months, and as we are barely in to our new year’s resolutions.  Do I tell people my goal(s) or not?

I’ve often held the thinking that if you tell people your goal, they can hold you accountable for it. “The disappointment on their faces or the shame for not completing that task would be too much to handle so let me get cracking.” But ultimately, it didn’t.

So, watching this TED video has given me another take on the matter. Let’s see what happens over the next few months…

To flip things on its head, what if you only told one person your goal? Would this change the above two ways of thinking as you will only be accountable to one other person? And what about bringing that person along (both having the same goal) and working as a team. Is this more beneficial?

Let me know your thoughts – @redabja