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The Science of Making — and Keeping — New Year’s Resolutions | Hal Hershfield

Dec 25, 2023

Hal Hershfield, a UCLA marketing and psychology professor, shares his insights on making and keeping New Year’s resolutions. He discusses the concept of a 'future self' and how visualizing it can improve decision-making. Commitment devices and breaking down big goals emerge as key strategies to enhance stick-to-itiveness. Hershfield introduces 'mental time travel' techniques, like writing to your future self, to boost motivation. The conversation balances the importance of present actions with future aspirations for effective self-improvement.

01:05:17

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Hal Hershfield

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Quick takeaways

Setting realistic goals, breaking them down, and using commitment devices improve success rates of New Year's resolutions.

Mental time travel can be harnessed to make better choices by visualizing and considering future versions of oneself.

Commitment devices, such as emergency goal reserves and accountability partners, are effective tools for behavior change.

Deep dives

Making and Keeping New Year's Resolutions

The podcast episode discusses the challenges of making and keeping New Year's resolutions. It highlights the tendency for individuals to struggle with maintaining their resolutions and provides insights from research on how to improve success rates. The episode emphasizes the importance of setting realistic goals, breaking them down into manageable parts, and using commitment devices to stay on track.

Closing the Gap Between Intentions and Actions

00:59

Time perception and future self-reflection

01:06

The effectiveness of commitment devices

01:58

The challenge of relating to our ultimate future self

01:22

Intro

4min

Exploring Identity and New Year's Resolutions

2min

Navigating Self-Identity and Decision-Making

16min

Exploring Mental Time Travel for New Year's Resolutions

5min

Connecting with Future Selves

21min

Connecting with Your Future Self: The Role of Commitment Devices

5min

Using Financial Commitment to Enforce New Year's Resolutions

2min

Balancing Food and Fulfillment

13min

Concluding Thoughts on Resolutions and Podcast Engagement

2min

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A leading behavioral psychologist reveals practical strategies to help you actually make the changes you want to make this new year (and beyond).

Hal Hershfield is a professor of marketing, behavioral decision-making, and psychology at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and the author of Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today. His research on future selves has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, as well as the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today.

In this episode we talk about:

What he means by a future self, and why thinking about your future self will help you make better decisions
How to think about your future self without neglecting the present moment
The importance of commitment devices, and what they are — including some which you can even adopt right now
The importance of breaking down big goals to make them achievable
How to reframe commitments so that you actually stick to them
The role of mental time travel to help you actually do what you say you want to do

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How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman

Atomic Habits | James Clear

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