New Year’s Resolution: Break a Rule
07 Monday Jan 2013
Written by Charles Harris in Breaking The Rules, Psychology
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I’m a great believer in resolutions – New Year and otherwise. Even if they only last a few days as a rule, then at least that’s a few days that I’ve worked differently, gone to the gym, whatever… And there’s no rule to stop me remaking the resolution a week later.
And if you want your resolution to stick, two of the most powerful ways are to be specific and to share it – apparently researchers have shown that the likelihood of achieving any goal goes from 20% to 40% if you are clear and specific (especially if you give it a number – eg: rather than “I’m going to write more” make it “I’m going to write 4 pages a week.”)
If you share your resolution the likelihood of achieving it rises further from 40% to 85%.
So here’s my resolution: Every day I’m going to break one of my rules.
It may be a small rule or a big one. A rule I created for myself or one I’ve learned from someone else. So far, day 7, I’m well on target. Over seven rules broken. And looking forward to breaking many more.
So – what’s yours?
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