Personal growth: How to keep New Year’s resolutions December 29, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Personal Development Potential.Tags: achieving goals, life, personal development, personal development planning, personal growth, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, writing
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Conventional wisdom in the world of self-improvement and self-actualization often tells us that will power is the key to achieving our goals in life. However, I just came across an article in the New York Times that makes a strong case for a more effective and sustainable approach for keeping our resolutions and achieving our long-term personal objectives.
In a column titled The Only Way to Keep Your Resolutions (1), David DeSteno (2) writes:
“We too often think about self-improvement and the pursuit of our goals in bracing, self-flagellating terms: I will do better, I will muscle through, I will wake up earlier. But it doesn’t need to be that way, and it shouldn’t: Self-control isn’t about feeling miserable. The research on self-control shows that willpower, for all its benefits, wanes over time.”
DeSteno argues that a better approach than sheer grit and will power lies in “increasing how much we value the future” and suggests that we can accomplish this better by developing our “social emotions.”
Here’s the link to his article:
(1) New York Times website, December 29, 2017
(2) David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, is the author of the forthcoming book “Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride.”
—Dennis Mellersh
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