Many people struggle with self-control. The world is, after all, abundant with temptation, such as devouring chocolate chip cookies, binge-watching favorite shows, or skipping that gym class to stay on the couch. People often feel guilty when giving in to temptation. As a result, they resolve to do better in the future because they want to live healthy and productive lives.
What better moment in the year to start over and finally pursue our goals than New Year's? The new year promises the possibility of a fresh start. Many people make New Year's resolutions, some in secret, but many others proclaim their good intentions to friends and family when midnight comes around on New Year's Eve.
Despite the rush of taking advantage of the new year's psychological fresh start, all of those temptations that were there last year? They didn't go anywhere. It's not surprising that according to surveys, up to 80% of people fail at pursuing their resolutions by February.
But what about the friends and family who are curious about how your resolutions are going? One option would be to simply admit lacking the willpower or the resolve to follow through, but that's not the best way to protect your reputation. People who seem to lack self-control are trusted and relied upon less. Another option is to blame the failure on circumstances outside of your control. This way, you can seem like someone with good self-control who wants to pursue their resolution but was kept from doing so by outside forces.
Research shows that some of the most common excuses that people use to justify failure to do something are lack of time and lack of money. This makes sense since many of the things people strive for require at least some investment of both time and money. For example, many of the resolutions that people make center around eating healthier food and working out more. Healthy eating requires money, as fresh and healthy food is often more expensive than fast food and requires time to shop and prepare. Working out can also require money for gym memberships and workout clothes, and of course, it requires time for the actual exercise.
But what protects your reputation more? Blaming failure on a lack of money or a lack of time? To find out, I conducted six experiments with a total of 1,200 research participants. In one study, I asked people how they felt about a fictional person who gave up on their resolution to eat healthier. I told some people that the reason was lack of time and others that the reason was lack of money.
People felt that the person who failed due to a lack of money had better self-control than the person who failed due to a lack of time. I wanted to know why that excuse worked so well, so in another study, I asked people whether giving up on the resolution had been a choice for the fictional person. It turned out that people think that a lack of time is more controllable than a lack of money. People believe that others could have made the time to follow through if they really wanted to, so giving up seems like a choice. In contrast, lack of money is less controllable, so the person who gave up really had no other option and it's not their lack of willpower that caused the failure.
So, it's better to blame failure on your lack of money than your lack of time. But is that what people generally do? In another experiment, I asked people what they would say after they failed a resolution. On average, they preferred to blame lack of time over lack of money! I suspect that this is because lacking time seems like a status symbol in a busy world. Being short on time signals being in demand. People mistakenly think this will help their public image and don't seem to realize that they'll seem like someone with worse self-control.
Of course, the surefire way to seem like someone with good self-control is to actually show iron willpower and ignore temptations. However, this is not realistic, and everyone fails at one resolution or another. When this happens, it's easy to feel ashamed and want to remedy your image by blaming a lack of time so you seem busy and in demand. Yet, blaming lack of money or other uncontrollable factors will be more helpful when it comes to maintaining an image of having good self-control despite giving in to some of the many temptations that we face.
So, go ahead and indulge in that fast food meal. Who can afford the expensive stuff anyway?
For Further Reading
Steinmetz, J. (2023). Too little money or time? Using justifications to maintain a positive image after self-control failure. European Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3010
Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563-2582. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901
Donnelly, G. E., Wilson, A. V., Whillans, A. V., & Norton, M. I. (2021). Communicating resource scarcity and interpersonal connection. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 31(4), 726-745. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1226
Janina Steinmetz is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Bayes Business School in London, UK, and studies consumer motivation and self-control.
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