A Strategy for New Year's Resolution Success: A Commitment Contract

An article published in The Economist provides insight into the economics of procrastination and helps explain why our resolutions for January 1st often fail to result in the change we seek. The author concludes that a "commitment contract" may be the secret to success in the new year. Here are a few sentences that summarize the approach.

A commitment contract is essentially "putting your money where your mouth is." For example, if you're like many who have resolved to quit smoking in the new year, your contract would be to put money (I would advocate it be a sizeable sum) into a zero-interest-bank account that your partner or good friend controls. If you're nicotine-free in June 2010, you get your money back. If not, it goes to charity.

Research summarized in The Economist reveals that field trials of this technique with smokers in the Philippines increased the likelihood of quitting by over 30% compared to smokers who did not use this technique to motivate action on their intention.

What can you do now to make a "commitment contract" to help you with your New Year's resolution? I certainly like the win/win nature of this contract. I think charities will like these odds too!

References
As noted in the article, papers related to the economics of procrastination can be found at www.economist.com/procrastination.