Why You Should Not Make Resolutions

"In some sense, it is silly to take self-help advice from a writer, even if she revolutionized the 20th-century novel. Nonetheless, recent psychological research has confirmed Woolf's take on this topic. New Year's resolutions, like all resolutions, are about self-control. You decide to resist some urges you know you will have later this year. You know you will want to smoke sometime later this week, but you resolve not to give in to this temptation. Seems straightforward."

"But it is not. According to research, the desire for self-control can work against self-control. This may sound counterintuitive. After all, a desire to have ice cream usually does not work against having ice cream. But self-control, in this respect, is more similar to wanting to fall asleep than to wanting to get ice cream. Just as often, the desire to fall asleep works against falling asleep; the desire to have self-control can also work against exercising self-control."

"The study, which involved 635 participants, also showed how this seemingly paradoxical effect of wanting self-control happens: it weakens what is often referred to as the efficiency belief and leads to task disengagement. That concerns how this effect happens; it does not concern why it happens. And when it comes to answering the why question, it is worth taking Virginia Woolf seriously."

New Year's resolutions and similar commitments require self-control by asking people to resist anticipated urges. Paradoxically, wanting to have self-control can reduce the likelihood of exercising it. A study with 635 participants found that the desire for self-control undermines confidence in task efficiency and promotes disengagement from tasks. The effect resembles the paradox of wanting to fall asleep, which can impede sleep, unlike ordinary desires such as for ice cream. Resolutions that force people to ignore or battle their urges can conflict with being free and kind toward oneself and may therefore be self-defeating.

Read at Psychology Today