The five per cent rule: Why most of us can't stick to our goals

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The five per cent rule: Why most of us can't stick to our goals
A stressed businessman. (Courtesy/iStock)

Humans are shockingly predictable, which is disappointing for such a complicated piece of machinery.

We can claim differences, and in a way we are because people come in all different sizes, shapes, colours and characters, but when you cut into the soul, we are just versions of one another. It is like having a certain brand of phone but available in different colours – even when they do upgrades, the basics remain the same as the aesthetics change.

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? Were they the same you made the year before but predictably, as soon as January salary checked in, you ditched them? You’ve never heard of that famous phrase, that if you keep doing the same thing over and over, you must expect the same results? Stop making those resolutions – it will save you a lot of disappointment in self and it will set you free.

Take gym. Every January, all gyms the world over are full to the brim. That first week especially, you have new people showing off new gym clothes and walking into the gym with a bounce, overdoing stuff then having body aches that keep them away for a week, complaining that it feels like someone hit every part of their body over and over.

That first week is interesting to watch. On Monday (people like to start sessions on Mondays) there will be a hundred people, on Tuesday, seventy, Wednesday ten more will drop. By Friday, only a quarter, most of them the old guard, will be in the gym. Week two might start with more people because luckily, when the body aches go, some will want to return. Those are the ones that become gym rats.

One of my gym mates has not returned yet, and I was concerned. I called to ask if he was okay and his answer amused me: “I am waiting for false-starters of January to stop crowding the gym. By first week of February, we will be the usual crowd and ten more converts.” So I asked him why he sounded so sure, although deep down I knew he was right – by mid-January the gym was less crowded.

According to him, anything that involves humans and commitment must be approached with the first rule of sales. Sales people, as we all know, might have the hardest jobs on earth. Having to beg people to buy products, and having to lie about the products' capabilities is not something for the faint-hearted. But they give important lessons. In every one hundred people they talk to, only about five per cent will buy the product. Ten at most, if you are a good pitcher or liar.

It is the same theory in stuff that involves commitment. We all approach stuff with a certain type of romanticism. Like deciding to go to the gym without knowing what is in store. Gym is hard, painful work that needs consistency. Every time you need to convince yourself on why you need to go. It is a battle of wills. Gym does not do instant gratification, and unfortunately, there are people who will go to the gym for one day and expect to see results.

Gym may be result-oriented, but it is like a long con that needs patience. Too much of it. On average, humans, predictably, do not like commitment, or too much hard work. Humans like to see instant results, or scheduled ones, like a salary. With gym, although the trainers will tell you not to expect visible results for three months, there is no way of capping how long it takes for results to show.

We are predictably impatient. We are predictably lazy. Predictably too, we prefer it when stuff is handed to us on a silver-platter. Is it any wonder that quick weight-loss solutions like slimming pills and sometimes dodgy products from the east are very popular?

Humans predictably want good things in life, but they do not necessarily want to work for them. True, there are people who give it their all. They will pour in blood and sweat and time into a project, but that is the five per cent that has accepted that nothing comes easy – it is the curse of the humans.

Be less predictable.

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