The Science of Making — and Keeping — New Year’s Resolutions | Hal Hershfield

A leading behavioral psychologist reveals practical strategies to help you actually make the changes you want to make this new year (and beyond).

Hal Hershfield is a professor of marketing, behavioral decision-making, and psychology at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and the author of Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today. His research on future selves has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, as well as the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today. 

In this episode we talk about:

• What he means by a future self, and why thinking about your future self will help you make better decisions
• How to think about your future self without neglecting the present moment
• The importance of commitment devices, and what they are — including some which you can even adopt right now
• The importance of breaking down big goals to make them achievable
• How to reframe commitments so that you actually stick to them
• The role of mental time travel to help you actually do what you say you want to do

Related Episodes:

How to Change Your Habits | Katy Milkman

Atomic Habits | James Clear

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