Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Diversified New Year's Resolutions

With investment, it's good to diversify. So why shouldn't it be the same for New Year's resolutions? I have personally never made one before, but I've often thought part of unhappiness comes from a failure to do you want (losing weight, saving money, getting ahead at work). This year I plan to make several specific goals (vagueness results in failure) publicly (as a commitment tool) starting today (waiting until New Years only encourages my procrastination) and will post again in three weeks (the time it takes to change behavior) to check back in. Here are my goals for 2010 and beyond:

1) Moderate exercise for 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week. From what I have read this is the minimum time needed to remain nominally healthy. Hopefully I will work my way up from here, but it's good to start small.

2) Drink 0-1/2 a soft drink daily in my home. Again, the plan is to work down to zero, but there's a good chance I'm addicted to caffeine.

3) Read the Bible every weekday. Not many exact parameters on this one yet, but I would like to open and read a portion of the Bible 5 days a week. I claim to believe it's valuable, but my actions say otherwise. (update)

4) Pray regularly. Same details as the previous one.

5) Allow my wife to pick one for me. She knows my flaws better than anyone and I trust her more than anyone. Who better to help me improve? (update)

One final note: I acknowledge that taking on so many changes may overload me and I reserve the right to fail in part or in all. It is incredibly rare for people to change in the short run and as hard as that is to hear our interpersonal relationships would be better if we remembered it. My hope is that there is value in trying, even if you fail. And if that's not true, I bet people who believe it probably succeed more anyways.

9 comments:

  1. #5 is a great idea. I think I'll give it a go too!

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  2. These resolutions all sound very reasonable and achievable to me. I'd like to see you add blogging the Bible.

    If you for some reason are unsuccessful in achieving any/all of these, why not set up a commitment contract with yourself? I think it's best to start without commitment contracts because internal incentives are always preferable to external incentives if they work. But if not, and your rational self still thinks these are worthwhile things to do, it might be wise to set up a stickk like thing.

    I, too, am intrigued by #5, but I suspect there are all kinds of perverse incentives at play there. Traci: "Harrison, you should work on doing chores more; or rubbing my back." :-)

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  3. Harrison! It has been a long time my friend. Following are my philosophical problems with New Year's resolutions:
    1. Ethical: these are essentially your attempts at moral improvement, with which I have 2 problems:
    a) You should be making these resolutions all the time. Why New Year's? The new season has suddenly launched you to moral greatness? I argue no. You will merely be one of those gungho January do-gooders who fizzles out come February. (Possible counter-argument: It is better to try in January than to never have tried at all?)
    b) New Year's resolutions are based on the idea that you can actually intellectually spur yourself on to love and good deeds (Hebrews parody). As a good theologian (and Presbyterian moreover), however, you should realize that your penchant for evil will make this impossible. Snap. That was a good point.
    2. Rational: If Harrison actually wanted to do these things, he would have been doing them before. Ergo, he will not actually do these things as soon as he loses desire.
    3. Empirical: you have failed at these before, you will fail again.
    4. Zen: what is "to resolve?"
    5. Scientific: the idea of performing deeds of self improvement appeal to your limbic system, the center for pleasure and rewards. The actual execution of these deeds, however, releases all sorts of prostaglandins and neurotransmitters that depress the limbic system and reinforce your "desire to quit." I haven't had Neuro yet, so I will present this argument to you in full in May.
    6. Personal: You are Harrison. Harrison loves the internet, sugar and TV. Indulge my man!
    Summary: I actually am rooting for you to complete these tasks. Especially the Bible and praying ones. When you fail, let me know and I will encourage you to try again.

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  4. I will have to respectfully disagree with my husband, and this is why:
    1. I don't think that it's wrong to try to develop good habits. I think that as long as you are reasonable about what to expect of yourself, it is a good thing. If you were doing these things because you thought that you could make yourself a perfect person, then I would disagree, but I don't think that's your motive.
    2. If you only ever do things that you want to do, there are a lot of things that will be left undone. Does that make them unimportant or not worth your time? Absolutely not. There are lots of things that you have to train yourself to do, whether they are easy for you or not. That's just life.
    3. Fatalistic much?
    4. Huh?
    5. I can't argue with that. This one's yours McClain.
    6. While it's generally fine to take part in the things you enjoy, it also tends to be a good idea to limit the things that could potentially be a negative influence in your life. Not saying at all that you have to totally eliminate things like caffeine (please don't make me!), but it's a good exercise in self-control and denying yourself instant gratification for better long-term results.

    My point in a nutshell: Some things that you (we) should be doing, such as exercising, Bible reading, etc. are things that you have to train yourself to do. There's nothing wrong with that, that's just how it works. While willpower often fades quickly, I think that if you can keep doing something long enough to make it a habit, it can really stick. Example: As a junior in college, I decided to read a chapter in my Bible everyday. I chose a time of day that worked well for me, and made it a part of my daily routine, like brushing my teeth, which made it difficult to forget. Three-and-a-half years later, it's still something that I do, all because I made it a habit.

    My only suggestion regarding your resolutions is that you may be trying to do too much at one time.

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  5. Traci B.12:53 PM

    It looks like I'm responsible for #5. I had dreams of making it "think about others more and less about yourself," or "be more humble," but Harrison says those aren't measurable. So I settled on clean the house for 10 minutes a day. Harrison says that he wants to help out more, but often doesn't so this can be an encouragement. I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. I'm thankful to be married to someone who wants to improve himself.

    Madeline and Paul, we all need to hang out some time. I miss our discussions and Paul's lists.

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  6. Dear harrison,
    Yours is the first site I visited on my crackberry.

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  7. My computer is on the fritz so I'm responding the old fashioned way, via the public library. Let's take these one by one:

    Justin S: Thanks man, I look forward to what your wife comes up with.

    Justin W: Blogging the Bible is still in limbo. Computer problems are only complicating it. As for a commitment contract like stickk.com, I thought about using one then decided against it. For one I don't value lump sums of money as much as my wife does. If I failed it would punish her more than me. Also, I've thought before that we when fail to complete a task we wanted to complete, it's because we have more information. The idea of tying myself to something in December that I may not want to do in June is scary. I lastly, I did use a commitment tool. I posted it online and in 3 weeks I will report back victorious or defeated (or probably somewhere in between). As you can see by my wife's comment, #5 is chore related. Like I said earlier, she knows me and I trust her. I want to do more house work than I currently do, so this is for the best.

    Paul: As "Reformed Christians" you and I have very similar beliefs about the ability and benefit of human improvement. The last part below my list states clearly that people rarely change and that I don't expect to complete all of these goals. I also agree that starting one with the herd (for New Years) isn't wise, that's why I did mine on December 30th! However, here's where I think you got me: "If Harrison actually wanted to do these things, he would have been doing them before. Ergo, he will not actually do these things as soon as he loses desire." I agree, but the fact remains, it would be good for me to do them. My hope is not to change my behavior, but to change my desires.

    Madeline: This is what wives are for. Like you said, I'm hoping to create healthy habits, even if they aren't perfect. It's encouraging to hear your story, maybe there's hope for the members of "Sinner's Anonymous" after all. As for doing too much, I'm just spreading out my risk for failure. If I even succeed at 2 or 3 I'll be better off than if I just did one.

    Traci B: I accept, thanks love.

    Paul: Good to have you back brother.

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  8. is a great idea. I think I'll give it a go too!

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You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.