MichaelSlepian

We are certainly more determined to protect our own secrets, compared to others’ secrets. People who are better at keeping secrets tend to be more conscientious, more careful, in general. People who are less good at keeping secrets are really outgoing people who love to chat. So keep that in mind when you are deciding who to approach with a secret of your own!

Find a research topic nobody has been studying, and then study it for a decade!

Can you keep a secret from yourself? Maybe. If there is information that you could access somehow, whether that’s asking someone, or some other way, then maybe you could keep a secret from yourself. Sometimes I see an email in my inbox late at night, I know it’s better off, I wait until the morning to read it. So, that might count as a secret I keep from myself. It’s a fascinating idea!

I’ve consulted with companies on this very question! First, employees are much more effective if they know why they must keep the secret. Second, employees can become isolated with these secrets, and this can lower motivation at work. And so there needs to be some mechanism in place so you know which other employees you are allowed to talk to about the secret. Knowing why you have to keep a secret and who you can talk to makes employees far more effective at keeping secrets for their work.

I love Post Secret, and have been in touch with Frank Warren over the years. In one study, we showed people secrets from Post Secret, and if they were exposed to a secret that they were also keeping, they felt less alone with the secret.