Secrecy may be an abstract concept, but there’s a reason we talk about it in these concrete terms. New research from Michael Slepian of Columbia University found that keeping a secret is akin to being encumbered by a physical weight. And that weight may be holding you back at work.
Writes Slepian: “The more you feel preoccupied by a secret and are thinking about it, the more you are using your personal resources — cognitive and motivational — the less energy you feel you have available to pursue other tasks. You see things around you as more challenging. It’s the same outcome as when you are carrying a heavy burden.”
In our personal lives, this dynamic can lead us to withdraw from people, activities, and relationships. In the workplace, it can result in decreased productivity and engagement — which spells trouble for employees and employers alike.
More from Slepian: “Being preoccupied by a secret at work can be demotivating. And we know if you are less motivated, you perform less well.”
Slepian urges those burdened by their secrets “to talk to a real, live person if possible — but only someone they trust, someone who can keep their secret and who does not have control over any potential spillover effects of the revelation. In the workplace, that might be a colleague in another department or even a friend in a different industry. For those without a confidant, anonymous hotlines offer individuals a way to talk about their secrets without revealing their identities.”
“Even if divulging your secret out loud isn’t a possibility, there are still ways to reduce your preoccupation with it. One way to do that is to write it down, whether that means posting it to an online message board or forum, sending it to a website like PostSecret, which shares submissions confidentially, or just jotting it down in a personal journal.”
Business Insider has more on the impact of Slepian’s research.