Imagine telling everyone you are going to run a marathon, start a business, lose weight, write a book, or learn a new skill. Your friends congratulate you. They tell you how disciplined you are, how inspiring your decision is, and how proud they are of you.
For a brief moment, it feels like you have already taken a major step forward.
But psychology suggests something surprising: sometimes, receiving recognition for a goal before doing the work can reduce the motivation needed to actually achieve it.
That familiar feeling of “I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it too early” may have a psychological explanation. Research suggests that when people receive social approval for their ambitions, their brains can sometimes experience a small sense of achievement before the real accomplishment happens.
This does not mean people should never share goals. Support and accountability can be helpful. But researchers have found that simply announcing intentions is not the same as taking action, and sometimes it can create the illusion of progress.
Why announcing goals can feel like achieving them
One of the strongest explanations comes from psychologist Peter Gollwitzer and his research on goal pursuit.
In a 2009 study titled “When Intentions Go Public: Does Social Reality Widen the Intention-Behavior Gap?”, Gollwitzer and his colleagues examined what happens when people's goals become publicly known.
The researchers focused on goals connected to personal identity, such as becoming a lawyer, improving fitness, or developing professional skills.
They found that when participants received recognition for their intentions, they sometimes showed less effort toward pursuing the actual goal compared with those whose intentions remained private.
The reason, researchers suggested, was that public acknowledgment created a sense of social reality, the feeling that the desired identity was already partly achieved.
In simple terms, saying “I’m becoming a writer”, and hearing “That’s amazing, you’re going to be a successful author!”, may provide some of the psychological satisfaction associated with already being that person.
The brain gets a taste of the reward before the difficult process begins.
The self-completion theory: why recognition can reduce the urge to prove yourself
This idea is closely connected to Self-Completion Theory, developed by psychologists Robert Wicklund and Gollwitzer.
The theory suggests that people are motivated to build and maintain important identities, whether that identity is being a successful entrepreneur, athlete, artist, or leader.
When people feel they lack proof of that identity, they work harder to collect evidence that confirms it. For example, a person who wants to become a fitness enthusiast buys workout equipment, follows training plans, and exercises regularly.
But when people receive symbolic evidence, such as praise, recognition, or public approval, they may feel that part of their identity has already been achieved.
The external validation becomes a substitute for actual progress.
The “goal jinx” feeling and the science of positive fantasies
Another explanation comes from psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, whose research examined how imagining future success affects motivation.
Many people believe that visualizing success automatically increases motivation. While positive thinking can sometimes help, Oettingen’s research found that only fantasizing about a positive future may actually reduce the energy people put into achieving it.
In a 2002 study “The motivating function of thinking about the future: Expectations versus fantasies”, Oettingen and Doris Mayer studied how people's expectations and fantasies about the future influenced their behavior.
They found that participants who spent more time imagining a successful outcome often showed less effort and experienced less energy compared with those who realistically considered the challenges standing in their way.
The reason is simple: the brain can sometimes treat imagined success like a psychological reward.
