Hold a heavy object in your arms for a few minutes and your muscles will start to feel fatigued. You will drop the object on the floor because your muscles are so overworked. Lifting something else will only be possible after your muscles receive some rest. The same is true for willpower, a limited mental resource that gives out after being exerted for too long.
Many people believe that willpower can be summoned up from a bottomless pit anytime that we need it. However, psychologists like Ray Baumeister have done extensive research to show that willpower functions just like a muscle: it expends energy whenever used, needs to be trained to be strengthened but in the end will never have limitless strength.
Baumeister conducted a study in which he asked half of the participants to fast for 3 hours before doing self-control tasks such as suppressing negative stereotypes or focusing on a boring video. The other half of the students just had to fast for 3 hours. The results showed that the students who engaged in the self-control task had significantly lower blood sugar levels than the students who did not exert self-control. In other words, willpower requires actual energy just like running.
This helps us see the inherent flaw in New Year’s resolutions: we try to change too much too fast. Bad habits are hard to change as it is and will become nearly impossible to do so if we overwhelm our brains with too many at one time. In addition, research has shown that excessive stressors from our daily life, such as going to school, meeting deadlines at work, organizing your schedule and raising a family all take away from much energy our brains have to engage in self-controlled activities such as a new resolution.
Many research studies in neuropsychology has found that self-control is managed by our pre-frontal cortex that resides behind our forehead. This brain structure is also responsible for keeping us focused, managing short-term memory and solving abstract problems. So, if we are overburdened by other tasks that require extensive focus or problem solving, our brains are literally overworked and will not be able to engage in self-control, which is necessary to maintain resolutions. Just as our muscles require rest from the fatigue to be able to function properly, our prefrontal cortex also needs time off.
This helps explain why after a long day at work or after a difficult argument with your partner that you are more likely to reach for the ice cream instead of a fruit or salad. An overtired brain is going to struggle to resist self-gratification (e.g. the ice cream or sitting on the couch) even though what you need may be different (e.g. an apple or going to the gym).
So just like exercise is required to strengthen your muscles, training and rewiring of the brain is required to make a real lifestyle change.
Here are some tips on how you can successfully keep your new years resolution:
1) Pick only 1 goal at a time. More than 1 will overtax the brain and you are guaranteed to not keep the resolution.
2) Making lifestyle changes (such as losing weight, exercising more or eating healthier) all require rewiring the brain and that takes time. Research suggests it takes about 1 month to create new neural connections in the brain, so be patient.
3) Reduce stress in other parts of your life to unburden your pre-frontal cortex. This will leave more energy for the part of the brain responsible for self-control to work towards your new goal.
4) Make a goal that you are genuinely excited about and do it when you feel the most excited about it. Neuropsychological research shows that more neural connections are made when in a highly emotional state (e.g. excitement, happiness, fear, etc.) and that the connections are stronger and last longer. These connections are necessary to re-wire your brain to truly change your lifestyle.
5) Focus on the positive results if you succeed at keeping your resolution. For example, think about how attractive and healthy you will feel when you lose weight. Your brain will become conditioned to feel those positive emotions when you engage in your new and improved behavior.
What was your New Year’s resolution this year? And what helps you stick to your resolutions?
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