A recent survey of 1,830 young people in China indicated that 66.1 percent of respondents have found themselves guilty of empty talk, becoming sayers rather than doers.

The survey was jointly conducted by China Youth Daily and online survey platform Wenjuan.com.

Mi Xue is a junior student from Beijing Normal University. She professed herself a “plan maker,” but these plans were rarely finished on time. “I feel the pressure when I'm delayed,” she said, adding that she's not the only one.

“Many of my friends made review plans long before our final exam, but most of them only began to revise the night before the exam,” she noted.

27-year-old Zhang Lanyi, manager of a clothing enterprise, confessed that she was guilty of hollow words in regards to trivial matters. “For instance, I’ve always told my friends and family that I would get rid of my excess weight, but I’ve never worked on it,” she explained.

According to the survey, 78.1 percent of the respondents said they were surrounded by this type of duplicity.

68.9 percent of the respondents attributed the phenomenon to inaccurate self-positioning and over-estimation of capabilities, while 58.1 percent believed saying something, and not following through, was instead caused by a failure in scheduling.

Xu Guangxing, a psychology professor at East China Normal University, believes that those who have an immature mindset and hypocritical personality are prone to becoming sayers rather than doers.

Additionally, those who tend to react impulsively and jump on the bandwagon more often make plans but neglect to finish them, Xu added.

The survey showed that 64.3 percent of respondents believed failure in fulfilling plans would impact self-confidence and lower self-esteem, and 60.9 percent said it was not conducive to the formation of healthy habits.

“Credibility is becoming more and more important in modern society. Those who have no credibility will not find a place in society, nor their careers and relationships,” said Xu.