full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Derek Sivers: Keep your goals to yourself

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

So this goes against cnvntanooeil wisdom that we should tell our friends our glaos, right? So they hold us to it.

So, let's look at the poorf. 1926: Kurt Lewin, founder of social psychology, called this "substitution." 1933: Wera maelhr found when it was acknowledged by others, it felt real in the mind. 1982, Peter Gollwitzer wrote a whole book about this, and in 2009, he did some new tests that were published.

It goes like this: 163 people across four seartape tests. Everyone wrote down their personal goal. Then half of them announced their commitment to this goal to the room, and half didn't. Then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal, but they were told that they could stop at any time. Now, those who kept their mtuohs shut worked the eritne 45 meuntis on average, and when asked aeawftrrd, said that they felt that they had a long way to go still to achieve their goal. But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes, on aaegrve, and when asked afterward, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal.

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

So this goes against ____________ wisdom that we should tell our friends our _____, right? So they hold us to it.

So, let's look at the _____. 1926: Kurt Lewin, founder of social psychology, called this "substitution." 1933: Wera ______ found when it was acknowledged by others, it felt real in the mind. 1982, Peter Gollwitzer wrote a whole book about this, and in 2009, he did some new tests that were published.

It goes like this: 163 people across four ________ tests. Everyone wrote down their personal goal. Then half of them announced their commitment to this goal to the room, and half didn't. Then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal, but they were told that they could stop at any time. Now, those who kept their ______ shut worked the ______ 45 _______ on average, and when asked _________, said that they felt that they had a long way to go still to achieve their goal. But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes, on _______, and when asked afterward, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal.

Solution


  1. average
  2. minutes
  3. entire
  4. mahler
  5. conventional
  6. goals
  7. separate
  8. proof
  9. afterward
  10. mouths

Original Text


(Laughter)

So this goes against conventional wisdom that we should tell our friends our goals, right? So they hold us to it.

So, let's look at the proof. 1926: Kurt Lewin, founder of social psychology, called this "substitution." 1933: Wera Mahler found when it was acknowledged by others, it felt real in the mind. 1982, Peter Gollwitzer wrote a whole book about this, and in 2009, he did some new tests that were published.

It goes like this: 163 people across four separate tests. Everyone wrote down their personal goal. Then half of them announced their commitment to this goal to the room, and half didn't. Then everyone was given 45 minutes of work that would directly lead them towards their goal, but they were told that they could stop at any time. Now, those who kept their mouths shut worked the entire 45 minutes on average, and when asked afterward, said that they felt that they had a long way to go still to achieve their goal. But those who had announced it quit after only 33 minutes, on average, and when asked afterward, said that they felt much closer to achieving their goal.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
personal goal 2


Important Words


  1. achieve
  2. achieving
  3. acknowledged
  4. afterward
  5. announced
  6. asked
  7. average
  8. book
  9. called
  10. closer
  11. commitment
  12. conventional
  13. entire
  14. felt
  15. founder
  16. friends
  17. goal
  18. goals
  19. gollwitzer
  20. hold
  21. kurt
  22. laughter
  23. lead
  24. lewin
  25. long
  26. mahler
  27. mind
  28. minutes
  29. mouths
  30. people
  31. personal
  32. peter
  33. proof
  34. psychology
  35. published
  36. quit
  37. real
  38. room
  39. separate
  40. shut
  41. social
  42. stop
  43. tests
  44. time
  45. told
  46. wera
  47. wisdom
  48. work
  49. worked
  50. wrote