Ayelet Fishbach is a fan of New Year’s resolutions. “When people say that they are not a good idea, it is because they see that they don’t last for long,” says the expert in motivation and decision-making. “If you did it for a month or two or three, that’s better than nothing,” she notes, citing the example of eating healthily or exercising. “We hope that you can find ways to continue doing this until March and beyond, but it’s better to have two months than nothing.”
A common mistake is for people to think about resolutions as “something they will not enjoy doing”, says Fishbach who is a professor of behavioural science and marketing at Chicago Booth business school and author of a new book, Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation. The mindset, she says, is: “I’m going to do what’s good for me and not what I enjoy doing.” This is a problem, however, because it creates an “empathy gap”, by which people do not understand how they might feel in future. “You need to find a way to pursue your resolution that is enjoyable, that is intrinsically motivating. People who do that can stick with their resolutions longer.”
Not that we should only pursue goals that are immediately gratifying. “It is not going to always be fun. And for many of the things that are important in our lives, it will take some time before it’s fun,” concedes Fishbach. Instead, there might be feelings of pride or a runner’s high — but only after several weeks of trudging around the park.