Stop talking about it and do it.

I've noticed lately that I've talked a lot about cleaning the house and doing taxes. I've told Cindy probably 5 times that I was going to work on taxes. I started telling her this back in late February.

It's April and I still haven't started. Why not?

Yesterday I read a blog post about how people who announce their intentions are less likely to make them happen.*

I agree. This advice does fly in the face of self-help authors who suggest that you should announce your plans to everyone you know. Supposedly by doing this you obligate yourself to actually competing your projects.

But, in actuality, the theory says by announcing your plans you're tricking your brain into thinking that you've already taken the first step. You get a tiny sense of accomplishment. Therefore you have no motivation to actually complete them.

So keep your plans quiet. Instead of spending energy announcing the plans, just do them.

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* Reference: “Symbolic Self-Completion” (1982) by Peter Gollwitzer