For all those who have set their New Year's resolutions, how’s that going? Will 2016 be the year you finally get slimmer, richer, and more attractive?
 
There will no doubt be some who have already fallen off the wagon. Taking a leaf out of behavioural economics, it was probably bound to happen.
 
Behavioural economics adopts economics and psychology to explain human behaviour. One of the more popular works in the field is Kahneman and Tversky’s Thinking, Fast and Slow. The book captures the cognitive limitations (non-science speak: logical screw-ups) that people tend to make that can stop them making the best decision for themselves.
 
The limitations the book describes go far in explaining why we don’t achieve our resolutions. We overestimate our abilities; favour small short term rewards over larger long term gains; we give in to temptations as if we function on auto pilot; and can delay receiving bad news because we assume it will stop the bad thing from happening.
 
The short version: People fail year on year to fulfil their resolutions because we’re slaves to our own stupidity. Like physical limitations, there is only so much people can realistically achieve without effort.
 
Resolutions are the first step towards exerting that effort, by committing yourself to changing your behaviour. But this needs to be teamed with some kind of penalty for failure (say, public humiliation or pledging money to charity if you do not achieve your goals).
 
And if that all seems too much? There’s only one thing to do: I say, give up.
 
I am not saying that this is right for everyone. But it’s time to be a bit honest here.
 
If you have been paying for a gym membership that you have not used since this time last year, chances are you are not really motivated to go to the gym.
 
We live in a world of trade-offs. We don’t all value – or need to value – the future over the present, or physical health over mental wellbeing. Some of us even derive pleasure from activities others find repugnant. We all maximise our utility (achieve optimal happiness) in different ways.
 
Just as not all of us aspire to be body builders, not all of us aspire to be masters of self-control.
 
Behavioural economics may give some insight into why we fail in achieving our resolutions. But basic economics tells us happiness involves trade-offs.