If cigarettes, gambling, those last 10 pounds, that credit card
habit and theone drink too many are standing in between you and your
goals, this new formula may finally make the difference. And the good
news is, it's all in your hands.
As the police car pealed out behind Lynn with its lights blinking
in her rearview mirror, she remembered with dread that second glass of
wine she drank just before leaving the party. Her heart raced as she
considered the implications of getting a DWI ticket. She had been
preparing to leave the party and knew she had to drive home, so why did
she indulge?
Most of the bad choices we make in our lives involve an immediate
reward--in Lynn's case, the taste and feel of the extra glass of wine.
Like Lynn, we often choose to live now even though we're likely to end up
paying the price later. This carpe-diem philosophy becomes even more
powerful when the punishment is not a sure thing. In Lynn's case, the
probability of her being pulled over by the police was not very high. If
she had expected them to stop her, she might have reached for a ginger
ale.
Our day-to-day bad choices have alarming results. For example,
one-third of Americans are overweight, costing the U.S. government $100
billion each year in treatment of related illnesses.
We're also steeped in debt:
The Consumer Federation of America calculates that 60 million
households carry an average credit card balance of $7,000, for a total
national credit card debt topping $455 billion. Our failure to make
sacrifices now for rewards later is particularly devastating when it
comes to following prescribed medical regimens. Studies have found that
only half of us take antidepressants, antihypertensives, asthma
medications and tuberculosis drugs as prescribed. Such lack of compliance
is the major cause of hospital admissions in people who have previously
had heart failure, and it's entirely preventable.
Our desire to take the path of least resistance is so strong that
we continue our sometimes destructive behavior even though we know, as in
the cases of smoking and overeating, it literally may kill us. But we
don't need to be slaves to instant gratification. Consider the ways we
already suffer in the present for reward in the future: We get tetanus
shots to protect against lockjaw and use condoms to reduce the risk of
sexually transmitted diseases; we have money taken out of our paychecks
for retirement, and parents routinely make sacrifices for their
children's future. The key to breaking a bad habit and adopting a good
one is making changes in our daily life that will minimize the influence
of the now and remind us of the later. It sounds difficult, but new
tricks make it possible.
A look at the animal kingdom reveals clues as to how this is done.
Working in a laboratory with pigeons, Howard Rachlin, Ph.D., of the State
University of New York at Stony Brook, found that when birds were given a
simple choice between immediate and delayed reward, they chose the
immediate reward 95% of the time. This was true even though the delayed
reward (food) was twice the size of the immediate one.
Then researchers made the task more complicated, giving birds the
chance to choose between 1) the same immediate and delayed options as in
the first part of the study, or 2) a no-option condition in which they
were only allowed access to the delayed reward. This situation is
analogous to the choice between going to a gym where you have the option
of relaxing in the sauna or hopping on the stationary bicycle, and going
to a gym that has only exercise equipment--giving you no option but to
exercise once you get there.
As the researchers increased the amount of time birds had to wait
after selecting between the two alternatives, the birds increasingly
chose the second option, to have only the delayed reward available. In
this way, the researchers effectively altered the birds' environment to
minimize the value of the immediate choice.
BREAKING A BAD HABIT
We can apply the same logic to help us break our bad habits: We
need to 1) minimize or avoid the immediate reward, and 2) make the
long-term negative consequence seem more immediate.
My friend John, for example, relies too much on his credit card.
When the lunch bill comes, he charges the total tab and pockets his
colleagues' cash. You may not know John, but I bet you know that he
doesn't rush to the bank and deposit that money.
John needs to avoid the immediate positive effect of using his
credit card. The most logical step would be to leave it at home--except
that he might need it for travel or emergencies. John's best bet would be
to do a little preplanning: He could stop by the bank after work to make
sure he had enough money for the next day's lunch. Or he could locate an
ATM near the restaurant to make it more convenient--and therefore more
likely--for him to withdraw cash.
As a reminder of that big scary negative at the end of the month,
John could paste his latest credit card bill near his computer, on the
refrigerator or someplace he will see it every day. He might also tape
the amount he owes to the face of the credit card. These nearly
effortless gestures will make it hard for John to readily ignore his
problem and help him bridge the gap between now and later.
STARTING A GOOD HABIT
Tags:
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ginger ale,
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