Do you feel as if you often lose track of things, or that you have many ideas and make a lot of plans, yet never seem to bring any of them to fruition? If so, then pay close attention. 

It’s easy to make plans, but much harder to follow them through, so if you need an extra push of motivation, then tell people about them. Say, you always wanted to write a novel and there are five first chapters in the drawer of your desk already. No, wait, that’s too abstract. Let’s say there is a cute girl in your Spanish evening class and you think she likes you, too. But because you are a bit shy, you haven’t made a move yet. 

You tell yourself that “next time” you’ll talk to her after class, but there were two next times already, and nothing happened apart from you awkwardly returning her smile. But what if you had told your buddy Jeff that there is this amazing, smart, hot girl in class who you just have to get to know? Jeff will be very excited and tell you that you really have to go talk to her if you like her that much. 

So, your class is on Wednesday, and you know that you’ll hang out with Jeff again on Friday. What do you do? One option is to keep playing the role of the somewhat awkward guy that doesn’t know how to make a move. That probably is a comfortable role for you, given your track record. However, you now know that Jeff will soon greet you with, “Tell me, man, how did it go with her?” You know that you’d feel like an idiot if you had to stammer, “Um…. I didn’t dare to speak to her.” 

For some strange reason, once we tell people about our plans, they turn into a matter of pride. We know that they know what we said we would do, and if we don’t do it, we’re afraid to look like losers to them. This is also what will give you a stronger motivation to talk to that girl in class. After all, you really don’t want your buddy Jeff to think that you can’t even ask a girl out. 

You can use this psychological trick whenever you feel that you should get something done, but instead of doing it, you are only making excuses why you can’t do it. Asking out a particular girl is one example, but there are many more. You can surely find a few if you think about the many things you once thought you want to do but never did. So, maybe you should talk about your plans with some friends of yours to finally get you started!