Domino Effect (#158)

People with written goals are 39% more likely to hit them

This is the time of year when many people set New Year’s resolutions. I’m personally not a big believer in setting resolutions, a perspective that is often confirmed when I compare the number of cars parked in front of the nearest gym at the beginning of January versus the end of February.

Real change doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a lot of intention, small steps and discipline. In fact, the more radical an attempt is to change behavior or habits, the more likely it is to fail. Creating a new habit takes at least 30-60 days to stick.

However, the beginning of year is a great time to reset and recalibrate goals; and science supports this. A study conducted by Gail Matthews found that people with written goals are 39% more likely to hit them. What’s more is that if they send their progress to friends for accountability, they are 76.7% more likely to reach them. Those are meaningful numbers.

Before setting your goals this year, you might want to visualize a domino. When lined up in a chain, the momentum of each domino falling can knock over another domino, even one that is 50% bigger. This ”domino effect” compounds quickly, so much so that if positioned correctly, it would only take 29 dominos to knock down the Empire State building.

So, why I am I talking about dominos? This concept was inspired by a book I read over break called, The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. After reading it, I am making some changes to my goal-setting.