So… the New Year is here….. are you excited… do you have a lot of New Years Resolutions !? Sometimes we know the best thing to do, but fail to do it. We know we make resolutions because we feel we want achieve a certain goal, loose weight to feel better, get fit, spend less money, save more, work on a certain relationship, get promoted, work on a better business plan, move our business more forward, take a great vacation and so on.
The problem is resolutions are easier to break than it is to keep them !
So, what do we need to do ?? Where is our self – control ?
Recent studies have shown that if you loose money as a penalty, more people achieved their goals. That means stronger incentives will keep your resolutions and goals more real.
One way of giving yourself a strong incentive to reach your goal is to commit to pay money to someone if you fail. Better yet, you can specify that you will have to pay a set sum to a cause that you do not like ! You can also make your commitment public and tell all your friends about it. This way you will have supporters that will encourage you to meet your goal, and whom you will disappoint if you fail. Believe me, this has been proven and it works.
Human decision making is complex, but knowing that we can control our own behavior will make us feel a lot better.
Make your commitments and resolutions to yourself, to others and have a penalty, you will be surprised how motivated you will be .