If it’s not fun to exercise or study, you’re unlikely to keep at it. But research has shown that focusing on efficiency can leave you high and dry because you’ll neglect an even more important part of the equation: whether you enjoy the act of goal pursuit.Įmbarking on a difficult workout may sound like a great way to see progress fast, but research has shown incorporating a fun element will help you stick with it. If you want to ace a class, you assume long, distraction-free study sessions are key. If you want to get fit, you figure a punishing workout will be just the thing to produce rapid progress. Most of us strive for efficiency when it comes to achieving our goals. Our six-part mindfulness guide will inform and inspire you to reduce stress while learning how to harness it. Sign up for CNN’s Stress, But Less newsletter. We’re used to being fined for our missteps by outsiders (governments, health plans, neighborhood associations) but this time you’re fining yourself for misbehavior. Incentives change our decisions, and penalties are even more motivating than rewards. You just have to name a referee and set the stakes. Websites like and invite you to put money on the line that you’ll have to forfeit to a charity if you don’t achieve a stated goal. You can make a bet with a friend that you’ll stick to your New Year’s resolution or pay. (Telling all your social media followers would up the ante further).Ī steeper penalty than shame, however, is putting cold hard cash on the table, and there is excellent evidence that self-imposed cash penalties motivate success. One easy way to do this is by telling a few people about your goal so you’ll feel ashamed if they check back later and find out you haven’t followed through. This may sound sinister, but ensuring you’ll face some penalty if you don’t achieve your New Year’s resolution can work wonders. Our seven-part guide has helpful hints to achieve better sleep. Sign up for CNN’s Sleep, But Better newsletter series. (Putting your plan on the calendar and setting a digital reminder wouldn’t hurt either.) Detailed planning can also help you anticipate and dodge obstacles – so if you plan to meditate during lunch, you’ll be sure to decline a proffered lunch meeting. Plotting when and where you’ll execute on your resolution jogs your memory when it’s opportune and generates guilt if you flake out. But a cue-based plan like “I’ll meditate at the office on weekdays during my lunch break” would fit the bill. If your New Year’s resolution is to meditate five days each week, a plan like “I’ll meditate on weekdays” would be too vague. Be sure to detail when and where you’ll follow through. Just as cues tell Broadway stars when to step onto the stage, research has shown that adding a cue to your plan helps you remember when to act. Print out or save this PDF to help you set your goals. Here are my five favorite science-based tips for sticking to your resolutions, sourced from my book, “ How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.” That means you’ll want to avoid vague goals like “I’ll exercise more” and instead set specific goals like “I’ll work out four times a week.” These tactics are most useful if you’ve chosen a goal that’s concrete and bite-size. If you want to boost your chances of sticking to your 2023 New Year’s resolution, behavioral scientists have discovered a host of techniques that can help. After all, you can’t accomplish anything if you don’t attempt it, and a lot of goals worth achieving can be tricky to nail the first time around. It might sound delusional, but it’s quite handy to be able to let go of failures and try again. A fresh start like New Year’s lets you relegate those missteps to a past chapter and tell yourself, “That was the old me, but the new me will be different.” Maybe you meant to quit smoking, get fit or start going to bed at a reasonable hour last year and didn’t. My collaborators and I have shown that on new beginnings - dates like New Year’s Day, your birthday and even Mondays - you’re extra motivated to tackle your goals because you feel like you can turn the page on past failures. But there is actually a logic to jumping on the New Year’s resolution bandwagon, despite the grim numbers. Others argue it’s a waste of time since most resolutions fail by mid-March. Some people love the tradition of setting a goal each January 1. Champagne bottles have been popped, balls have dropped, and now your friends, family and colleagues are starting to ask, “What’s your New Year’s resolution?”
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