What are your New Year’s resolutions? And, of greater interest,
what makes you think you might really observe them?
Let’s take a step back: Isn’t there something fundamentally
irrational about New Year’s resolutions to begin with? After all, if you want
to start running five miles a day, getting to work earlier, or cutting
out the cheesecake, you shouldn’t wait until January 1st to start.
Prof. Thomas Schelling, this year’s Nobel prize-winner in economics
for his work on conflict, has something to tell us about this: He’s
written at
some length about the archetypal situation in which a "resolution"
may come in handy to change your actual behavior. He posits a divided
self: One part of us wants to stop smoking, the other part wants
to reach for the cigarette after dinner. One part of us wants to
get up earlier, the other part wants to hit the snooze button. So
far, so familiar.
The insight he adds is that these two parts of ourselves exist at
different times. The Angel Part is in control before
the decision is actually made; the Devil Part takes over at the moment
of truth. So the question becomes: Are there tools/techniques/strategies
we can employ to strengthen the Angel’s ability to constrain the Devil
when push comes to shove? There are some.
- The very fact that you have made A Formal (Written, I hope) Resolution
raises the price of non-compliance; if you’ve also made the commitment
public with a spouse or loved one, posted it on the refrigerator and
above your desk, so much the better. Shame doesn’t always trump
temptation, but you can give it a fighting chance. - Make bright-line rules, not vague incantations of improvement. So: Rather
than "eat less," specify "zero carbs." Rather
than "only one cigarette after a meal" (what exactly is a "meal" in
today’s grazing/snacking society?), "one cigarette only at 1pm and
7pm." - Physically remove temptation: If you have to go out to buy
dessert, the Angel may have time to reassert control, but had it been
ready to hand in the freezer, the Devil starts out on top. - Bargain with yourself and promise a reward for the pain inflicted
by compliance with the Resolution: If you lose 10 pounds, you
can buy a new dress. Just make sure the incentive is something
you really want; make it meaningful, so that its loss would be painful.
So what are my New Year’s Resolutions?
- To connect with more readers of "Adam Smith, Esq." in the real, off-line
world—one of the greatest rewards of this site, to me. - To try to make "Adam Smith, Esq." ever more insightful, carefully
reasoned, and just plain intrinsically interesting. And - To celebrate everyone’s entitlement to one vice of their choosing.
