Is There Any Evidence That New Year's Resolutions Really Work?

In preparation for the new year (and the resolutions that come with it), today’s episode is all about goal setting and behavior change. Eric and Greg have a long, evidence-based conversation about the research on setting effective goals and successfully changing health behaviors. The discussion yields several evidence-based tips for setting better goals and maximally supporting your ability to achieve them.

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TIME STAMPS

Intro/Announcements (0:00)

Road to the Stage / Road to Athens (2:29)

Feats of Strength (4:12)

Research Review: Goal setting and behavior change (9:54)

Fake urgency (12:06)

• The time to act is now: pseudo-systematic review

Success rates of New Year’s Resolutions (14:36)

• Auld lang syne: success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers
• A large-scale experiment on New Year's resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals

Temporal landmarks (22:19)

• The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior
• Anticipated Temporal Landmarks Undermine Motivation for Continued Goal Pursuit

SMART goals (27:31)

• SMART criteria

Creating a goal hierarchy (30:19)

• How Focusing on Superordinate Goals Motivates Broad, Long-Term Goal Pursuit: A Theoretical Perspective

Superordinate goals (34:16)

• How Focusing on Superordinate Goals Motivates Broad, Long-Term Goal Pursuit: A Theoretical Perspective

Equifinality and Multifinality (41:12)

Mental contrasting (44:12)

• Mental contrasting for health behaviour change: a systematic review and meta-analysis of effects and moderator variables
• A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment

Approach versus avoidance  (52:37)

• Goal Setting and Action Planning for Health Behavior Change

Flexible versus rigid restraint (56:16)

• Towards a Sustainable Nutrition Paradigm in Physique Sport: A Narrative Review

Process versus outcome (1:01:28)

• The Way is the Goal: The Role of Goal Focus for Successful Goal Pursuit and Subjective Well-Being

Mastery versus performance (1:06:05)

• Goal Setting and Action Planning for Health Behavior Change

Goal difficulty; “slack with a cost” (1:13:44)

• Goal Setting and Action Planning for Health Behavior Change
• The Benefits of Emergency Reserves: Greater Preference and Persistence for Goals that Have Slack with a Cost

Setting specific goals (1:23:12)

Implementation intentions (1:23:47)

• A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment
• Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling

Stimulus control; modifying your environment (1:30:24)

• Changing circumstances, disrupting habits

Social support and feedback (1:33:08)

• Periodic Prompts and Reminders in Health Promotion and Health Behavior Interventions: Systematic Review
• Designing in-app messages to nudge behavior change: Lessons learned from a weight management app for young adults

How MacroFactor supports evidence-based goal striving and behavior change (1:45:06)

To Play Us Out: Protein Bread, Winter Break (1:54:54)

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