It’s the same story. It reads like a 19th century gothic horror novel, full of unnerving ghouls and beasts that slowly drag you down into your own pit of darkness. However, unlike the classics, this story is carelessly re-written at the start of every year and it always has the same predictable ending. This story is known to all. Its title is:
The New Year’s Resolution.
As tradition dictates, we think of something we could do less or more in the next New Year; this can include anything from running more, eating less, saving money or drinking less coffee. Once we have defined our goal/s we wait until January 1st to put them into action. Then, once January 1st has come around, we start the uphill battle against our own willpower.
This is when our 21st century gothic horror tale begins.
Unfortunately, not all of us manage to see out our resolutions. In fact 88% of us fail to keep our resolutions (according to Richard Wiseman who surveyed over 3000 people at Bristol University).
"It is our mental muscle; it can only be stretched a few times."
We have all been there. After a few months we just give up, if we have even lasted that long! But, why is this? Why do we struggle to maintain our resolutions and why is there such a high failure rate? The answer is a process we fight with daily; it is known as self-control.
Self-control
Self-control is the constant battle between the two little voices in our head nattering away saying “Oh, I really shouldn’t” versus “Go on, it won’t hurt!” Self-control is the process we go through when we are trying to decide whether we should eat the piece of cake or go for a run; it is the ability to override our initial desires and reject them.
The problem with our self-control is that it is only a finite resource; we can only use it a few times and then it’s gone. Think of self-control as the bicep muscle in your arm; once you have frequently exerted the bicep it becomes fatigued and tired, making it less effective. This is essentially how our self-control works. It is our mental muscle; it can only be stretched a few times.
"it has serious consequences on our future behaviours"
Gino et al (2011) demonstrated this limited self-control phenomenon in their research. The researchers placed a group of participants in front of two PC monitors. One monitor showed a women being interviewed whilst the other monitor just showed a series of one-syllable words. Participants were instructed to ignore (not read) the words that appeared on the one monitor. If the participants happened to read the words then they were instructed to direct their attention immediately to the monitor displaying the interview (engaging self-control). Afterwards the same participants took part in a problem-solving task in which they had the opportunity to cheat. The researchers found that 34% of participants that had had to employ self-control, cheated in the problem solving task compared to 13.7% of participants who didn’t have to use their self-control. Thus, not only is our self-control a limited capacity but it has serious consequences on our future behaviours and choices if we use it up.
Once our self-control is diminished, we are more likely to engage in undesired behaviours, such as choosing a chocolate bar instead of an apple. Hence, why it is so difficult to constantly maintain our resolutions; we just keep on using up our self-control without being consciously aware.
A few solutions:
To conquer the problems we face by our limited amount of available self-control we can look towards behaviour change research.
1. Pre-commit to you resolution with friends/family
This can apply to all resolutions/goals. When you have decided on what you want your resolution to be, write it up as a mini-contract that binds you to follow through with your resolution. Select your most trusted friends or family members to become witnesses to the contract. Pre-committing to a future behaviour makes it more likely that you will achieve it. Adding friends and family members to the process incorporates a healthy bit of peer-pressure to ensure you hit your goals
2. Loss Aversion
A proven method is to commit to giving away a sum of money if you fail your resolution/goal. This method applies the psychological theory of loss aversion (people despair of losing more than they celebrate in gaining a reward) to help you achieve your goals. Again, involve your friends/family members to monitor your progress to give you that extra boost.
There are many other methods that you can put into place to help you achieve your resolutions/goals that would see this blog over 3000 words. However, the two solutions mentioned are easy to implement into your routine and provide some of the most significant effects.
So, next time you look at that alluring chocolate bar on the shelf just take a moment and stop and think about the amount of self-control you are exerting. Try to observe the effects of your self-control; are you leaning to the chocolate side or the healthy snack side? How is this affecting your mental state?
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