So if this is true, what can we do? Well, you could ( 1 ) the temptation to announce your goal. You can ( 2 ) the gratification that the social acknowledgment brings, and you can understand that your mind mistakes the talking for the doing. But if you do need to talk about something, you can ( 3 ) it in a way that gives you no satisfaction, such as, "I really want to run this marathon, so I need to train five times a week and kick my ( 4 ) if I don't, okay?"