Stop announcing and start building to protect your momentum

Your phone buzzes, a friend DM’s, “How’s the new project going?” You hover over the reply box, ready to type a paragraph about the logo, the brand story, and the grand plans. Then you notice the cold coffee by your keyboard and the empty folder named “v1.” You delete your reply and open a blank doc. Ten minutes in, the urge to talk fades as a first sketch appears on the screen.

A week earlier you announced a big goal in a group chat and felt that warm hit of support. The next morning you were oddly flat. It’s common. The brain can mistake public talk for real progress. A teammate once spent weeks “researching” a new process, posting updates daily. When we checked, there was no draft—just threads. We reset: no announcements until a prototype existed. Two weeks later, she demoed a basic version that actually worked.

The hardest part is wrestling the void. Sitting in silence with half‑formed ideas is uncomfortable, like standing on a diving board while everyone watches. But those first messy drafts are the bridge. Interruptions multiply the discomfort and dilute the attention you need for real breakthroughs. Honestly, it’s not glamorous to block your calendar, mute chats, and ignore the dopamine drip of quick praise. But it works.

Here’s the science in plain terms: verbalizing intentions can deliver a premature sense of completion, lowering effort. Deep work relies on minimizing context switching and protecting attention, the scarce fuel of creative output. Small, frequent, tangible wins (what psychologists call “progress loops”) self‑reinforce and build intrinsic motivation. Keep your mouth shut long enough to see one of those loops complete, and the habit starts to stick.

For the next two weeks, hold new goals close. Pick one visible output you can finish in 7–10 days, block a daily 60–90 minute deep work session, and put your phone in airplane mode. Each session, jot three quick bullets—what you moved, what blocked you, and what you’ll do next—so you replace the urge to announce with real evidence. When a friend asks how it’s going, smile and say, “I’ll show you Friday,” then walk back to the draft and make a small improvement now. Give it a try tonight.