What’s the best way of making your New Year’s resolutions stick?Last year Prof Richard Wiseman tracked the lives of over 700 people as they attempted to achieve their New Year’s resolutions.  Participants were asked to describe the techniques that they had employed and their level of success.  Only 12% of participants achieved their resolution.  By comparing the techniques used by successful and unsuccessful participants, Wiseman identified effective and ineffective ways of achieving long-lasting change.  Wiseman’s results suggest that many of the ideas recommended by self-help experts simply don’t work.

We have developed a fun quiz on based on this work that predicts the likelihood of you achieving your resolutions – try it here.

Here is Prof Wiseman talking about the research…

Finally, here are main four tips for achieving your New Year’s resolution..

1) Break your goal into a series of steps, focusing on creating sub-goals that are concrete, measurable, and time-based.  Focus on creating goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based (SMART). For example, instead of thinking ‘I want to find a new job’, focus on creating bite-sized, measurable goals for each week, such as rewriting your CV and then applying for one new job every two weeks.  Map out the step-by-step mini-goals that will slowly but surely take you to where you want to be, make a note of them in a diary, and stick to the plan.

2) Tell your friends and family about your goals, thus increasing the fear of failure and eliciting support.   For example, write down your resolution on a large sheet of paper, sign it, and place it somewhere prominent in your house. Tell your friends, family and colleagues about your resolution, and ask them to provide you with helpful nudges to assist you in achieving your goal. Either way, do not keep your resolution to yourself.

3) Regularly remind yourself of the benefits associated with achieving your goals by creating a checklist of how life would be better once you obtain your aim.  For example, if you want to quit smoking, make a list of the benefits of giving up, and place it somewhere prominent in your house. If you want to motivate yourself to go to the gym, list the positive side of being fitter and put it in a place that ensures you will see it each day.

4) Expect to revert to your old habits from time to time. Treat any failure as a temporary set-back rather than a reason to give up altogether.  New habits take time to learn, and once in a while you will slip up and revert to the old you. People on diets might suddenly give in to temptation, or those trying to exercise more might not find the time to go to the gym for a week. Remember that everyone messes up from time to time. Don’t blame yourself if you falter, or allow the experience to make you give up.

…and here are another six….

1) Make only one resolution, your chances of success are greater when you channel energy into changing just one aspect of your behaviour.

2) Don’t wait until New Year’s Eve to think about your resolution and instead take some time out a few days before and reflect upon what you really want to achieve.

3) Avoid previous resolutions; deciding to re-visit a past resolution sets you up for frustration and disappointment.

4) Don’t run with the crowd and go with the usual resolutions.  Instead think about what you really want out of life.

5) Give yourself a small reward whenever you achieve a sub-goal, thus maintaining motivation and a sense of progress.

6) Make your plans and progress concrete by keeping a handwritten journal, completing a computer spreadsheet or covering a notice board with graphs or pictures.

Very excited to announce that 59 Seconds will be published in Canada and the USA in January 2010.  Prof Wiseman will be promoting the book with the following speaking/media tour…..

Jan 4: Toronto – Public event: Lunchtime talk
Jan 5 & 6: New York – Public event: Lecture
Jan 7: Washington DC
Jan 8: Boston – Public event: Late night lecture
Jan 9 & 10: Las Vegas
Jan 11: Seattle
Jan 12: Los Angeles
Jan 13: San Francisco

All media inquiries to Andrea Bussell (abussell@randomhouse.com)

What can we learn about likeability from Benjamin Frankin?

Benjamin Franklin once remarked, “He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.” In short, the best way of getting someone to like you is not to do them a favour, but rather to get them to do you a favour. The idea is theoretically sound. According to some psychologists, we spend much of our time justifying our actions to ourselves. It is as if we watch ourselves as an impartial observer, and then try to work out why we have done what we have done. Thus, if you can get someone to carry out a small favour for you, such as telling you the time or giving you some advice, they are likely to think that they helped you because they liked you. But does the theory really work? To find out, psychologists Jon Jecker and David Landy conducted a rather unusual study. First, they had participants win some money during an experiment. Then, soon after leaving the lab, the researchers asked some of the participants a favour, explaining that they were short of cash, and wondering if the participant would mind returning the money. Finally, participants were asked to rate how much they liked the researcher. As predicted by Franklin, the participants who returned the money liked the researcher far more than another group who were allowed to keep their winnings.

59 Seconds tip: The best way of getting someone to like you is not to do them a favour, but rather to get them to do you a small favour.

Jecker, J. and Landy, D. (1969). Liking a person as function of doing him a favor. Human Relations, 22, 371-378.

What aspect of your life should you change to make yourself feel happier?

Happiness researchers Kenneth Sheldon and Sonja Lyubomirsky studied people who had recently experienced one of two types of change in their life. The first type, labeled ‘circumstantial change’, involved relatively important alterations to their overall circumstances (e.g., moving house, getting a pay rise, or buying a new car). The second type, labeled ‘intentional change’, involved changes that required effort to pursue a goal or initiate an activity (e.g., joining a new club, starting a new hobby, or embarking on a different career). Both groups reported an immediate rise in happiness, but those experiencing circumstantial change quickly reverted back to their initial levels, whilst those who had made an intentional change remained happier for much longer. Why? When you have the same wonderful experience time and again you become familiar with your new source of joy, and so cease to derive anywhere near as much pleasure from it. In contrast, intentional changes create a constantly changing psychological landscape that prolongs happiness.

59 Seconds tip: Pursue ‘intentional’ change by starting a new hobby, joining an organisation, learning a new skill, initiating a project, or meeting new people.

Sheldon, K. M. & Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). Is it possible to become happier? (And if so, how?) Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1, 129-145.

Does putting a smile on your face really make you happy?When people are sad, they cry. When they are happy, they smile. When they agree, they nod their heads. Exactly the same process works in reverse, even when people are not aware of their facial expressions. In the 1980s, psychologist Fritz Strack asked one group of participants to hold a pencil between their teeth, but to ensure that it did not touch their lips. Another group supported the end of the pencil with just their lips, but not their teeth. Without realising it, those in the ‘teeth only’ condition had forced the lower part of their faces into a smile, whilst those in the ‘lips only’ condition had made themselves frown. Everyone then judged how funny they found Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons, and rate how happy they felt. Participants tended to experience the emotion associated with their expressions. Those who had their faces forced into a smile felt happier, and found the Far Side cartoons much funnier, than those who were forced to frown. Other work has demonstrated that this increase in happiness does not drain away the moment people cease smiling. It lingers, affecting many aspects of their behavior, including interacting with others in a more positive way, and being more likely to remember happy life events.

59 Seconds tip: To provide a significant boost to your happiness, force your face into a smile and hold the expression for around 20 seconds.

Strack, F., Martin, L.L., and Stepper, S. (1988). Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobstrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 768-777.

Schnall, S., & Laird, J. D. (2003). Keep smiling: Enduring effects of facial expressions and postures on emotional experience. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 787-797.

What kind of gifts really make you happy?

Elizabeth Dunn from The University of British Columbia gave participants $20 and then randomly assigned them to one of two groups. One group was instructed to spend the money on themselves (perhaps treating themselves to a self-indulgent present), whilst the second group was asked to spend their unexpected windfall on someone else (perhaps by purchasing a present for a friend or family member). Participants who spent the money on their friends and family felt significantly happier than those who treated themselves to luxury gifts. Similarly, happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky arranged for participants to perform five non-financial acts of kindness each week for 6 weeks (e.g., writing a thank-you note, giving blood, or helping out a friend). Those that carried out all such acts increased their happiness by an incredible 40%.

59 Seconds tip: Become happier by providing for others rather than yourself. Spending a small amount of money on someone else, or carrying out an act of kindness, may be one of the best investments that you ever make.

Dunn, E.W., Aknin, L., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319, 1687-1688.

Want to enjoy increased happiness? This simple exercise will help put a smile on your face.

Psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough asked people to spend a few moments each week carrying out one of three writing tasks. One group listed five things for which they were grateful, the second noted down five things that annoyed them, and the final group jotted down five events that had taken place during the previous week. Everyone scribbled away, with the ‘gratitude’ group remarking on anything from seeing the sunset on a summer day to the generosity of their friends, the ‘annoyed’ group listing taxes and their children arguing, and the ‘events’ group detailing making breakfast and driving to work. The results were startling. Compared to those in either the ‘annoyed’ or ‘events’ groups, those expressing gratitude ended up significantly happier, much more optimistic about the future, physically healthier, and they even exercised more.

59 Seconds tip: Boost your health and happiness by spending a few moments at the start of each week listing five things that you are grateful for in your life.

Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389.

The old adage suggests that curiosity killed the cat.  However, research suggests exactly the opposite.

According to work carried out by Todd Kashdan of George Mason University, curiosity is central to well-being.  Kashdan found that people who rated themselves as curious reported higher levels of satisfaction with life than others, and less likely to derive pleasure from hedonistic behaviors such as sex, drugs and drinking.

Other work suggests that the benefits from curiosity stem from the intrinsic pleasure of finding out more, stretching yourself rather than sticking in a rut, and increased likelihood of spending time with others.

To help create a more curious life….

- Always order a dish you have never tried before in restaurants, take a different route to work or watch a TV programme you have never seen before.

- Ask yourself an interesting question each week.  How do elephants communicate over hundreds of miles?  Why do people laugh?  Why are bananas yellow?

- Visit this site and go to a random webpage.

- Think of someone that you have worked with for years and write down a couple of words to describe that person.  Now generate an alternative way of seeing them by thinking about their physical characteristics, hobbies and interests, or their dreams and ambitions.

Initial results of the mass happiness experiment are now available at www.scienceofhappiness.co.uk. You might also enjoy these ten scientifically proven tips to a happier life…

1. Meet up with a friend that you haven’t seen for a while.
2. Watch a funny television programme or film.
3. Exercise for about thirty minutes three times a week.
4. Cut your television viewing by half.
5. Distract yourself with a book (personally, I would recommend ‘59 Seconds’!)
6. Create novel challenges by starting a new hobby, joining an organisation, or learning a new skill.
7. Go for a 20 minute walk in the sun.
8. Spend ten minutes listening to relaxing or uplifting music.
9. Stroke a dog.
10. Don’t listen to the news.

And remember, you can follow the experiment on Twitter.

Open a self-help book, or attend a self-development course, and you are likely to come across the ‘Yale Goal Setting’ Study. But did it really happen?

In 1953 a team of researchers interviewed Yale’s graduating seniors, asking them whether they had written down the specific goals that they wanted to achieve in life. Twenty years later the researchers tracked down the same cohort and found that the 3% of people who had specific goals all those years before had accumulated more personal wealth than the other 97% of their classmates combined. The study is used to illustrate the power of focus. There is just one small problem….

…the experiment never actually took place. That’s right. It’s a total myth. I searched through relevant psychology journals, and asked academics in the area, and drew a complete blank. And I am not the only one to fail to find the study. A few years ago journalist Lawrence Tabak contacted both writers who had cited the study, and the secretary of the Yale Class of 1953, but again could not produce any evidence that it had ever been conducted.

For years, self-help gurus have been happy to describe a study apparently without checking their facts. So, next time you hear someone talking about the ‘Yale Goal’ study, or read about it in a book, feel free to shout ‘urban myth’!

Update: Sometimes the study is cited as involving a Harvard class of 1979.  Google books shows over 1000 citations of that study!