The Three Percent
"Can you drink a liter of water each day for thirty days?"- a question to an audience
The other day I watched a snippet from a seminar. In it the presenter explained to the audience that most of us are dehydrated. He then asked the audience if they could drink a liter of water for the next thirty days. The logic for thirty days was the old belief that if we do something for 21 days continuously it will become a habit. Everyone raised their hands agreeing that they would drink the liter of water.
The presenter then informed the audience when this experiment was done with 1000 people the result was that only 3% percent of the audience actually stayed committed to the end. Shocking? I was expecting the three percent. It is no different than the number of people with written goals. The same number who actually persevere to achieve the great things with their lives.
So why did they fail? I believe that they committed intellectually. They know that drinking water is good for them and that the effect would be positive. As the Heath brothers would categorize it, the rider committed to the journey.
However, there was no emotional connection to the goal. Drinking water is not something that most of us get emotional about. Unless you have seen someone dehydrate in a matter of a couple of hours there is no emotional commitment. As the Heath brothers would categorize it, the elephand moved towards a different goal.
Even better there is no way to set yourself up on the path to getting to the one litter goal. It is not like pre-punching 2 holes on a reward card as Subway did. It is not like someone could have started you with one forth of liter base level.
So the experiment is a set up for failure? Nope. In my opinion it is strictly a willpower to commit and stay with that commitment. I urge you to set it as a goal and achieve it. Then raise the bar to 1.5 liters. I will commit to do so also.
Today's question is:
"Can you commit to drinking a litter of water for a month?"
"Can you drink a liter of water each day for thirty days?"- a question to an audience
The other day I watched a snippet from a seminar. In it the presenter explained to the audience that most of us are dehydrated. He then asked the audience if they could drink a liter of water for the next thirty days. The logic for thirty days was the old belief that if we do something for 21 days continuously it will become a habit. Everyone raised their hands agreeing that they would drink the liter of water.
The presenter then informed the audience when this experiment was done with 1000 people the result was that only 3% percent of the audience actually stayed committed to the end. Shocking? I was expecting the three percent. It is no different than the number of people with written goals. The same number who actually persevere to achieve the great things with their lives.
So why did they fail? I believe that they committed intellectually. They know that drinking water is good for them and that the effect would be positive. As the Heath brothers would categorize it, the rider committed to the journey.
However, there was no emotional connection to the goal. Drinking water is not something that most of us get emotional about. Unless you have seen someone dehydrate in a matter of a couple of hours there is no emotional commitment. As the Heath brothers would categorize it, the elephand moved towards a different goal.
Even better there is no way to set yourself up on the path to getting to the one litter goal. It is not like pre-punching 2 holes on a reward card as Subway did. It is not like someone could have started you with one forth of liter base level.
So the experiment is a set up for failure? Nope. In my opinion it is strictly a willpower to commit and stay with that commitment. I urge you to set it as a goal and achieve it. Then raise the bar to 1.5 liters. I will commit to do so also.
Today's question is:
"Can you commit to drinking a litter of water for a month?"
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