Change one thing at a time

January 21, 2009 by janet · Leave a Comment 

We are over half way through the month.  How’s it going?  Have you committed to some resolutions?  Are they sticking or slipping?  Mine are slipping a bit, and I think I know why…

There is a fun and fascinating area of research around self-control that I ignored when I set my goals. 

“Just as a muscle gets tired from exertion, acts of self-control cause short-term impairments in subsequent self-control, even in unrelated tasks.”  (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice)*

What does that mean?  Well, basically it means that changing multiple behaviours at once will ‘wear out’ our self control muscle, just like over-exertion of physical muscles can temporarily deplete our physical strength.  So, if we enter January with too many goals, we may not have the strength to sustain multiple new behaviours at once. 

I have so much I want to achieve this year, I have trouble being patient – I want to start on everything now!

The solution? I have to choose one thing to do at a time.  Once I have ’strengthened’ my self control around 1 behaviour and made it stick, the next one will be easier and faster.

So, if you find that you or your co-workers are already losing site of some of your goals, stop and evaluate if you are asking yourselves to do too much at once.  It’s hard to choose, but you have a whole year.  You don’t have to do everything at once (I can’t believe I just said that).

*Baumeister, R.F., Vohs, K.D., & Tice, D.M. (2007).  The strength model of self-control.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(6).  351-355.

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