How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions for More Than a Week
Released on 01/05/2023
Evidence suggests that within a week,
25% of us have failed on our resolutions.
A month later, half of us have.
And then you've got those annoyingly persistent 25
or 30% that seem to carry it on for years.
And we've been doing this research for decades
and the big revolution we have now is people tend
to do what they enjoy and not what they don't enjoy.
You're welcome for decades of research
for something as simple as that.
I'm Dr. Amanda Rebar.
I am Associate Professor of Psychology.
I'm here to help you make sense of new year's resolutions.
[relaxed synth music]
Resolutions are really different from habits
but they don't have to be.
Resolutions are self-initiated plan to change,
whereas habits are how we do things day to day.
Habits tend to last the long term,
whereas resolutions tend to fade out.
To make resolutions that work,
you need to focus on the behavior rather than the outcome.
You need to make sure it fits within your life
and you're not forcing yourself to do something.
I mean, you need to find a way that it's satisfying,
fun or easy,
ideally all three.
[Voiceover] So let's start here with behavior change.
When we talk about behavior
really we think about it in two different ways.
We think of the initiation
so deciding to do that behavior and execution.
So once you decide to do something, how do you do that?
My favorite example of that is getting
in the car and deciding to go to work.
That's the initiation
and execution is maybe the route you take.
So the more we go through life, the more we go, okay,
this is connected to this, or this makes me feel this way.
And we reflect on those quite quickly
within a quarter of a second to make decisions
or to influence how we act or to how we feel.
And that's all a habit is, associative learning.
That's how we can change our own behaviors.
Think what's the reward that continuing this link
between me doing this behavior and whatever context I'm in.
Why does my mind think that this is a good thing to do?
[Voiceover] All that means is
that we need to make new habits.
So how does science say that we do that?
Rewards are really interesting because we're driven
by them if we like it or not.
So reward is kind of that catalyst or the helper
between doing a behavior once and making sure we do it
over and over again to the point where these habits form.
When you're trying to form a habit,
it seems really tempting to reward yourself
for doing the behavior, having a reward day
after you diet for seven days.
The problem with that is then you're shifting
from habit to goal-directed behavior or to an achievement.
You're doing it for something external
from the actual behavior,
which makes it more about self-control
than about just going through your day-to-day life.
[Voiceover] So how long does it take
to make your new habits stick around for good?
Every habit researcher dreads the question
about how long it takes to form a habit. [laughing]
And it's because it's really hard to know.
It's hard because people are so different from each other.
The evidence suggests between 21 days or three months.
It's not like running is gonna feel any different
once your habit's formed.
It's that decision to do it.
You don't have to talk yourself
into it as much as you may have when you started.
It's more just a natural part of of your day.
And that's really what we want
from a behavior change perspective.
[relaxed synth music]
If you can make goals that are focused
on doing something as opposed to stop doing something else,
it's really valuable.
So trade out a behavior
for the context that seems to be quite triggering
for that habit.
It doesn't work to trade out bad behaviors
with behaviors that don't give you the same reward.
Some people will try to trade out smoking
for chewing a piece of gum or eating a celery stick,
and that's not gonna work
because you're not getting the same reward
out of that that you were from smoking, for example.
[Voiceover] Keeping track of our habits vary
person to person.
But for those taking a more high-tech route
is technology a benefit or a burden?
The role of technology is really interesting,
especially from a behavior change perspective.
Everyone has activity trackers, for example,
or everyone loves tracking their heartbeat or their sleep.
And if people find it supportive
in the way that helps them have an easier life
and more satisfying and fun, brilliant.
But the risk
of that is we could be monitoring ourselves to death.
If you're focusing so much
on a goal or watching the outcomes
in a way that makes you reflect so much
on it that you don't allow those naturally-occurring habits
to form, it's gonna be exhausting to maintain over time.
If it's stressful or
if it's making you feel guilty or ashamed, give it up.
It's not gonna help.
[relaxed synth music]
I started researching physical activity
and it's really hard to keep people motivated
for a long time if they don't consider it part
of their daily lives or
if it's not who they see themselves to be.
You know, it kind of irks me
that a lot of the way we try to intervene
with physical activity is by educating people.
98% of the world knows that exercise will make them better
in some way.
We all know we should, for heaven's sakes.
So it needs to move beyond that.
We need to make it easier on people.
There's so much going on in people's lives.
[Voiceover] If you've done all three,
changing your behavior, making it fun
and making it fit into your life,
does that mean that you're guaranteed to be successful
with your New Year's resolution?
Some of my favorite evidence
in the habit field is we've tracked people's habits
across different types of behaviors, across weeks and month
and we found that those days where people
didn't do the behavior that they were trying
to become habitual didn't throw you off
but had no impact on how quickly those habits would form.
And I'd love that finding because it means we can be kind
to ourselves and it means it's okay to miss a few days
or it's okay to give into temptations
and just kick back on track the next day.
It's really important to remember
that when you're making a goal or a resolution,
you're not always gonna feel as motivated
as you do at that moment.
When you do set a goal or you do set a resolution, think
about how you can make that behavior
that you wanna do the easiest or the most satisfying
or the funnest option out of all the options you have.
[relaxed synth music]
How the Disco Clam Uses Light to Fight Super-Strong Predators
Architect Explains How Homes Could be 3D Printed on Mars and Earth
Scientist Explains How Rare Genetics Allow Some to Sleep Only 4 Hours a Night
Scientist Explains Unsinkable Metal That Could Prevent Disasters at Sea
Is Invisibility Possible? An Inventor and a Physicist Explain
Scientist Explains Why Her Lab Taught Rats to Drive Tiny Cars
Mycologist Explains How a Slime Mold Can Solve Mazes
How the Two-Hour Marathon Limit Was Broken
Research Suggests Cats Like Their Owners as Much as Dogs
Researcher Explains Deepfake Videos
Scientist Explains How to Study the Metabolism of Ultra High Flying Geese
Hurricane Hunter Explains How They Track and Predict Hurricanes
Scientist Explains Viral Fish Cannon Video
A Biohacker Explains Why He Turned His Leg Into a Hotspot
Scientist Explains What Water Pooling in Kilauea's Volcanic Crater Means
Bill Nye Explains the bet365体育赛事 Behind Solar Sailing
Vision Scientist Explains Why These Praying Mantises Are Wearing 3D Glasses
Why Some Cities Are Banning Facial Recognition Technology
Scientist's Map Explains Climate Change
Scientist Explains How Moon Mining Would Work
Scientist Explains How She Captured Rare Footage of a Giant Squid
Doctor Explains How Sunscreen Affects Your Body
Stranger Things is Getting a New Mall! But Today Malls Are Dying. What Happened?
The Limits of Human Endurance Might Be Our Guts
Meet the First College Students to Launch a Rocket Into Space
Scientist Explains Why Dogs Can Smell Better Than Robots
A Harvard Professor Explains What the Avengers Can Teach Us About Philosophy
NASA Twin Study: How Space Changes Our Bodies
What the Black Hole Picture Means for Researchers
Scientist Explains How to Levitate Objects With Sound
Why Scientists and Artists Want The Blackest Substances on Earth
Biologist Explains How Drones Catching Whale "Snot" Helps Research
Researcher Explains Why Humans Can't Spot Real-Life Deepfake Masks
Doctor Explains What You Need to Know About The Coronavirus
VFX Artist Breaks Down This Year's Best Visual Effects Nominees
How Doctors on Earth Treated a Blood Clot in Space
Scientist Explains Why Some Cats Eat Human Corpses
Voting Expert Explains How Voting Technology Will Impact the 2020 Election
Doctor Explains What You Need to Know About Pandemics
ER Doctor Explains How They're Handling Covid-19
Why This Taste Map Is Wrong
Q&A: What's Next for the Coronavirus Pandemic?
Why Captive Tigers Can’t Be Reintroduced to the Wild
How Covid-19 Immunity Compares to Other Diseases
5 Mistakes to Avoid as We Try to Stop Covid-19
How This Emergency Ventilator Could Keep Covid-19 Patients Alive
Why NASA Made a Helicopter for Mars
Theoretical Physicist Breaks Down the Marvel Multiverse
Former NASA Astronaut Explains Jeff Bezos's Space Flight
Physics Student Breaks Down Gymnastics Physics
What Do Cities Look Like Under a Microscope?
Inside the Largest Bitcoin Mine in The U.S.
How Caffeine Has Fueled History
How Mushroom Time-Lapses Are Filmed
Why You’ll Fail the Milk Crate Challenge
Why Vegan Cheese Doesn't Melt
How 250 Cameras Filmed Neill Blomkamp's Demonic
How Meme Detectives Stop NFT Fraud
How Disney Designed a Robotic Spider-Man
How Online Conspiracy Groups Compare to Cults
Dune Costume Designers Break Down Dune’s Stillsuits
Korean Phrases You Missed in 'Squid Game'
Why Scientists Are Stress Testing Tardigrades
Every Prototype that Led to a Realistic Prosthetic Arm
Why the Toilet Needs an Upgrade
How Animals Are Evolving Because of Climate Change
How Stop-Motion Movies Are Animated at Aardman
Astronomer Explains How NASA Detects Asteroids
Are We Living In A Simulation?
Inside the Journey of a Shipping Container (And Why the Supply Chain Is So Backed Up)
The bet365体育赛事 of Slow Aging
How Nose Swabs Detect New Covid-19 Strains
Samsung S22 Ultra Explained in 3 Minutes
The bet365体育赛事 Behind Elon Musk’s Neuralink Brain Chip
Every Prototype to Make a Humanoid Robot
Chemist Breaks Down How At-Home Covid Tests Work
A Timeline of Russian Cyberattacks on Ukraine
VFX Artist Breaks Down Oscar-Nominated CGI
Why Smartphones Night Photos Are So Good Now
We Invented the Perfect WIRED Autocomplete Glue
How Everything Everywhere All at Once's Visual Effects Were Made
How Dogs Coevolved with Humans
How an Architect Redesigns NYC Streets
Viking Expert Breaks Down The Northman Weapons
J. Kenji López-Alt Breaks Down the bet365体育赛事 of Stir-Fry
How A.I. Is Changing Hollywood
How Trash Goes From Garbage Cans to Landfills
Veterinarian Explains How to Prevent Pet Separation Anxiety
The bet365体育赛事 Behind Genetically Modified Mosquitoes
How Scientists & Filmmakers Brought Prehistoric Planet's Dinosaurs to Life
All the Ways Google Gets Street View Images
How Public Cameras Recognize and Track You
How the Nuro Robotic Delivery Car Was Built
Biologist Explains the Unexpected Origins of Feathers in Fashion
Surgeons Break Down Separating Conjoined Twins
Former Air Force Pilot Breaks Down UFO Footage
Bug Expert Explains Why Cicadas Are So Loud
The Best of CES 2021
Health Expert Explains What You Need to Know About Quarantines
Scientist Explains How People Might Hibernate Like Bears
Could a Chernobyl Level Nuclear Disaster Happen in the US?
Neuroscientist Explains ASMR's Effects on the Brain & The Body
Why Top Scientists Are Pretending an Asteroid is Headed for Earth
Epidemiologist Answers Common Monkeypox Questions
Bill Nye Breaks Down Webb Telescope Space Images
How This Humanoid Robot Diver Was Designed
Every Trick a Pro GeoGuessr Player Uses to Win
How NASA Biologists Plan to Grow Plants on the Moon
How FIFA Graphics & Gameplay Are Evolving (1993 - 2023)
How a Vet Performs Dangerous Surgeries on Wild Animals
This Heart is Not Human
How Entomologists Use Insects to Solve Crimes
Former NASA Astronaut Breaks Down a Rocket Launch
Chess Pro Explains How to Spot Cheaters
Why Billionaires Are Actually Ruining the Economy
How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions for More Than a Week
The Biology Behind The Last of Us
English Teacher Grades Homework By ChatGPT
All the Ways a Cold Plunge Affects the Body
Spy Historian Debunks Chinese Spy Balloon Theories
A.I. Tries 20 Jobs | WIRED
Mathematician Breaks Down the Best Ways to Win the Lottery
Why Music Festivals Sound Better Than Ever
Pro Interpreters vs. AI Challenge: Who Translates Faster and Better?
Why The Average Human Couldn't Drive An F1 Car
Atomic Expert Explains "Oppenheimer" Bomb Scenes
Every 'Useless' Body Part Explained From Head to Toe
How Pilots and Scientists Are Thinking About the Future of Air Travel
How To Max Out At Every Fantasy Football Position (Ft. Matthew Berry)
All The Ways Mt. Everest Can Kill You
How Fat Bears Bulk Up To Hibernate (And Why We Love To See It)
Why Vintage Tech Is So Valuable To Collectors
8 Photos That Tell The History of Humans In Space
How Every Organ in Your Body Ages From Head to Toe
Why AI Chess Bots Are Virtually Unbeatable (ft. GothamChess)
How Mind-Controlled Bionic Arms Fuse To The Body
Historian Breaks Down Napoleon's Battle Tactics