It’s been a few weeks since the post about financial resolutions for the New Year. Have you been keeping up on yours? Or has something come up that’s caused you to “take a break,” “focus on something more important,” or just generally leave the pledge behind?
Setting New Year’s resolutions often seems appealing at the time, but by the end of January many people have left theirs behind. Some of the time this abandonment makes sense—you genuinely might not have time or interest in following through on your pledge—but other times this abandonment is an unfortunate loss of willpower that bumps up against our self-image. People don’t like to think of themselves as weak or lacking determination, so we rationalize our behavior with excuses and move on—even if it isn’t what’s best for us in the long-run.
With that said, how can you get back on track after leaving your resolution in the past? And in the future, what tactics can you use to help yourself stick to pledges that you want to uphold?
Make a public commitment to your pledge. Various studies have demonstrated that people are more likely to follow through on their resolutions when there is some public cost associated with not doing so—for example, knowing that people are aware that you failed to lose weight. This public cost could potentially be upsetting or humiliating, depending on to what degree you pledged yourself publicly, but that is only if you fail to follow through. On the other side of the spectrum, this pledge could be exhilarating and a real boost to your self-esteem, especially because it could increase the chance that you complete your resolution.
Ask a friend for help monitoring your progress. Appointing a friend to help you fulfill your resolution operates on many of the same principles above, only with a reduced scope for your public pledge. Instead of relying upon many people, with some of whom you might not be very close, you will leverage your close relationship and use that as a check on your resolution. For example, when you have to justify yourself to someone else, it is less likely that you’ll be able to slide by with flimsy excuses for quitting. With a friend to monitor your progress, you’ll be more likely to stick with your resolution during the tough times.
Of course, asking for a friend’s help could have some problems when you’re dealing with financial issues. Depending on how close you are with the friend, you might not feel comfortable with their reviewing things like your credit card statement. You can solve this problem by reporting your results to them without their independently verifying the financials, but that approach also opens up the possibility that you could lie to them. Resist the temptation; you have appointed your friend to help you for a reason, and they have other important things that they could be doing if they weren’t helping you. Respect your decision—and theirs—and let your friend help you achieve your goals.
Put something on the line with StickK. StickK is a free website that uses the principles of behavioral psychology to motivate people to follow through on their commitments. It’s one of my favorite applications of these studies, and I’m glad that it’s finally relevant to something on the site because it’s a tremendous resource that I think people should use more often.
StickK offers a variety of methods, but the main idea behind the site is that making a pledge, such as a financial inducement, can alter the incentives for someone following through on their commitment. By altering these incentives, you can give a person the strength to keep going with their commitments when they otherwise might have quit. For example, one setting on StickK allows the user to set a certain amount of money that will be given to an “anti-cause” if the user doesn’t complete the resolution—perhaps a rival sports team, or a person that the user dislikes. Other options include things like staking the money for a charity, although with a good cause on the line you might not be quite as tempted to stick with your goal. If you’re having trouble sticking with your resolution, you should definitely try StickK—or even check out the book by the site’s creator that hatched the whole idea.
Image above via.
Sticking with resolutions can be tough, but there are proven methods for success that you can adopt to increase the chances that you follow through. By making a public commitment, asking for a friend’s help, and raising the stakes a bit, you can achieve the goals you want—all while convincing yourself that you do have willpower and determination. That outcome sounds pretty much like a win-win.
Image above via.
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