A few years ago, Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, followed over 3000 people who had made New Year’s Resolutions…and tracked their ultimate success or failure. Since 88% of the participants were successful in failing to achieve their goal (i.e. only 12% actually achieved their goal) he had many examples of what NOT to do in making a New Year’s Resolution.
Make Many Resolutions: The chances of failure are greater when you channel your energy into changing multiple aspects of your behavior. To guarantee failure, try to achieve too much by making way too many resolutions.
Be Impulsive: Wait until New Year’s Eve to consider your resolution(s). By waiting until the waning hours/minutes of the year, you can assure that your decisions will be based upon whatever is on your mind at the time…or in your glass.
Make the same ol’ resolution again, and again…and again: Wallow in frustration and disappointment by re-visiting a past resolution that you failed to achieve. Choose the same old problem, and the same old approach that you botched last year.
Be vague and fuzzy: Do not think through exactly what you are going to do, where you are going to do it, and at what time. Be as vague as possible which will allow you to disregard your failure because you didn’t really commit to anything anyway.
ok...ok…ok…enough of the sarcasm. Let’s get serious.
Willpower is a muscle
As we learn more about the brain, we also learn that willpower is a muscle, like our biceps or quadriceps or latissmus dorsi, and can fail from fatigue by being overtaxed, or “weak”.
In an experiment led by Baba Shiv of Stanford University, undergraduates were divided into two groups: one group was given a two-digit number to remember, while the other was given a seven-digit number. Both groups were asked to walk down the hall…where they were offered two different snack options: a slice of chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad. Notably, the seven-digit group was 100% more likely to choose the chocolate cake. The reason, according to Professor Shiv, is that the seven-digit number was taking up valuable space in the prefrontal cortex portion of the brain, (i.e. cognitive overload) making it more difficult to resist a self-indulgent dessert.
The pre-frontal cortex, located right behind the forehead, is also in charge of keeping us focused, handling short-term memory, and solving abstract problems. Asking it to do too many functions at once can create a “tired” brain which is less resistant to outside stimuli.
In another experiment, by Professor Roy Baumeister of Florida State University, students who fasted for three hours were asked to perform a variety of self-control tasks, e.g. focusing on a boring video. The results were that students with lower glucose levels also had lower self-control. In other words, willpower requires real energy.
"A new oath holds pretty well; but... when it is become old, and frayed out, and damaged by a dozen annual retryings of its remains, it ceases to be serviceable; any little strain will snap it."…Mark Twain
Observations for Success
Let’s return to the research of Professor Wiseman that we pointed to earlier…without the sardonic, tongue-in-cheek tone.
What else might his study inform us about achieving success with New Year’s Resolutions?
One very interesting observation was that there were large differences in the goal-setting approaches that best suited men and women:
- Men were significantly more likely to succeed when asked to set S.M.A.R.T. goals (i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound)…as well as focusing on rewards and benefits.
- Women were more successful when they made their goals public to friends and family…as well as simply having someone encourage them to be persistent in taking time to learn new habits.
To recap the research findings on New Year's Resolutions, sans cynicism and sarcasm...consider these eight bits of learning:
- Make only one resolution,
- Plan ahead,
- Avoid previous resolutions,
- Be specific,
- Set S.M.A.R.T goals,
- Carrot good, stick bad,
- Go public,
- Be persistent.
Above all else, trust yourself. The first step to goal achievement is self-awareness. The best way to fix willpower flaws is to be aware of them.
In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want.
Happy New Year to you...from all of us at ClientWise!
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