How To Keep Your Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

This is Weekly Grooves' inaugural episode where we explore topical issues through the lens of behavioral science. Tim Houlihan and Kurt Nelson, PhD have worked in the world of behavioral interventions for more than 20 years and we each run our own consultancies. In Weekly Grooves, we view the headlines through the lenses of behavioral science.

We are not good at keeping resolutions. January 17th is the Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day – the day that it is attributed with having the most people abandoned their New Year’s resolutions. It is often a day of celebration, and among some people, it’s even considered a holiday. But according to a study conducted by US clinical psychologist Joseph Luciani, PhD, around 80 percent fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions.

What can be done? We have some ideas and we urge you to get re-engaged in your resolutions with tips in our super-fast episode on habits.

© 2020 Weekly Grooves

Kurt Nelson: @whatmotivates

Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan

Links

“A theory of goal setting & task performance.” Locke & Latham: https://tinyurl.com/trx5tg4

“Goal commitment and the goal-setting process: Problems, prospects, and proposals for future research.” John Hollenbeck, Howard Klein: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1987-26774-001

“Immediate Rewards Predict Adherence to Long-Term Goals” Kaitlin Woolley, Ayelet Fishbach: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167216676480?journalCode=pspc

“Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects Are Seen as Closer” Emily Balcetis and David Dunning: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797609356283

“Executive function and the frontal lobes: a meta-analytic review.” Julie Alvarez, Eugene Emory: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16794878

“Writing Down Goals: Does It Actually Improve Performance?” Robert Weinberg, Deanna Morrison, Megan Loftin, Thelma Horn, Elizabeth Goodwin, Emily Wright, and Carly Block: https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/tsp/33/1/article-p35.xml

Benjamin Gardner, PhD: https://www.nirandfar.com/goal-setting-hack/

Bryan, Gharad, Dean Karlan, and Scott Nelson. "Commitment Devices." Annual Review of Economics 2.1 (2010): 671-98. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.economics.102308.124324

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/ditch-new-years-resolutions-day/

https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/fun/ditch-new-years-resolution-day

https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2015-12-29/why-80-percent-of-new-years-resolutions-fail

https://bestlifeonline.com/new-years-resolutions-ditch-date/

https://www.nirandfar.com/habits/

https://nesslabs.com/habits-routines-rituals

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180208120923.htm

https://www.stickk.com/