Everyone has a huge personal goal they want to accomplish--a big, challenging, amazing goal. They think about it, dream about it, obsess about it... but they never accomplish it.

每个人都有一个梦想达成的个人目标——一个远大的、具有挑战性的、惊人的目标。他们对此朝思暮想、辗转反侧、为之入迷……但是，他们从来都未能达成这个目标。

That could be because they also talk about it.

这也许是因为他们总是在谈论自己的目标。

According to studies like this one, people who talk about their intentions are less likely to follow through on those intentions.

研究表示，那些总是谈论自己想法的人更不容易践行这些想法。

Say you want to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, a grueling five- to seven-month trek from Georgia to Maine.

假设你想去阿巴拉契亚山道远足，这是一段长达5到7个月，从乔治亚州到缅因州的长途旅程。

You're having dinner with friends, and you tell them about it.

你和朋友吃饭时，告诉了他们这个想法。

"Oh, wow!" one exclaims. "That sounds amazing. But won't it be super hard?"

“哇哦！”一位朋友惊呼，“听上去太棒了！但一定会非常困难吧？”

Indeed it will, you say, and you share what you know about tent sites, shelters, too-occasional showers, and the cool trail name you'll get.

当然是的，你说，然后你又分享了一些你知道的有关驻扎帐篷、庇护所、时不时遇到的阵雨以及那些你将经过的很酷的路线名字的信息。

It's fun. It feels awesome to bask in the glow of people who admire you for wanting to take on such a huge challenge.

那很有趣。沐浴在人们因为你将接受如此巨大的考验而投来的崇拜眼神中的感觉相当好。

It feels like you're already on the Trail.

那种感觉就像是你已经在路上了一样。

It also means you're less likely to actually be on the Trail someday, because "when other people take notice of an individual's identity-related behavioral intention, this gives the individual a premature sense of possessing the aspired-to identity."

那也意味着你不太可能在某天真的踏上这段旅程了，因为“当人们注意到个人与认同相关的行为意图，这将给这个个体一种已经拥有这种期望意图的假象”。

In short, you already got a kick out of people thinking of you as a Trail hiker... so now you're less motivated to actually be a Trail hiker.

简单来说，你已经从被看作一个长途旅行者中获得了极大的快感……因此你真的去做一个长途旅行者的动力就削弱了。

Sounds counterintuitive, right? Aren't we supposed to share our intentions so other people can help support and motivate us?

听上去有些违反直觉，对吧？难道我们不应该分享我们的想法，以便于别人能更好地给我们提供帮助和激励吗？

According to NYU psychologist Peter Gollwitzer, that's not the case.

根据纽约大学的心理学家Peter Gollwitzer的观点，事实并非如此。

Gollwitzer thinks the issue lies in our sense of identity. Each of us wants to be certain things, and we naturally declare those intentions, even if we have not yet become those things. (Check out Twitter profiles bios if you don't believe me--tons of people are motivated, innovative, creative, passionate, and unique gurus, ninjas, and connoisseurs.)

Gollwitzer认为问题的关键在于我们的认同感。我们每个人都对自己有某种期望，我们自然地会向别人说出我们的想法，即使我们还没有做到。（你要是不相信我就去看看Twitter上的那些个人信息吧——一大堆的人号称自己目标明确、有创新思想、创造力强、热情十足或者是某方面的大师、忍者或者鉴赏家。）

Describing how I plan to run a marathon, and how I bought running shoes and joined a gym and created a training plan, certainly makes me feel good... but it also makes me feel like I'm already part of the way there even though I haven't trained at all.

描述我如何为跑马拉松做准备，如何买跑鞋、去健身房、制定训练计划，这当然会使我感觉良好……但那也会令我觉得我好像已经快成功了，虽然事实上我根本没开始训练。

Declaring what we want to be and how we will get there causes us to somehow feel we are farther along the path of becoming who we want to be, and therefore less motivated--even though we've actually done nothing but talk.

大声宣布我们要做什么，以及我们将要如何实现它会使我们感到我们已经走在了向目标逼近的路上。因此变也减少了努力的动力——尽管我们除了动嘴皮子什么都还没做。

So try it. Pick a goal. Create a plan to achieve it. Then keep your goal and your plan to yourself. Focus solely on doing the work required to achieve your goal.

所以试试吧，选择一个目标，制定一项实现它的计划。不要告诉任何人。将注意力全部放在实现这个目标的行动上。

Then, when you do, feel free talk all you want. You've earned it.

然后，等你真正做到的时候，尽情地和别人谈论它吧。这是你应得的。