Resolutions To Change: Small Movement vs. Willpower

The Wall Street Journal regularly does stories about New Year’s resolutions, including this one. (Here’s the same reporter at it a year ago.) My problem is that these stories make it seem like the New Year is the one time to change. Not true, of course. But Sue Shellenbarger does put her finger one key fallacy—thinking that force of will is what will make change stick:

Most people get stuck thinking willpower is the answer. In a survey of 1,134 adults released last month by the American Psychological Association, willpower was the top reason people cited for failing to make positive changes.

But in fact, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps you impose your will, especially when choosing among multiple options, can easily get tired out. Relying on continuous brute psychological force doesn’t make a good foundation for change.

Much like there are varied learning styles, personality styles, and work styles, I believe there are multiple ways to make a resolution to change stick. Here’s one of them—one that I’m trying to practice these days in writing this blog:

Develop a structure that allows you to do small bits of work toward your end goal almost immediately. Start by doing them without trying to judge your progress. Just keep moving along. Give it at least three months before popping your head up to take stock of where you are. (This is a little different from the classic coaching technique for creating a big plan, breaking the big plan into little tasks, and then working at each task.)

The keep-moving method is how I relearned Spanish nearly a decade after I had first studied it in college. It got me past the first lousy night class I took at a local university, and allowed me to keep going and eventually get to the point where I could interview people in Spanish without a translator.

[Photo courtesy of BazaarBizarreSF]