The Will vs The Way: How to not fail at our resolutions

Put your hand up if you’ve failed to follow through on a New Year’s resolution before, or a habit you were determined to break. Come on, don’t lie, it’s fine, lift it up!

That’s nothing to be ashamed of. According to Psychology Today, you’re in good company. Fun fact for the day: 22% of people fail within their first week, 40% after a month, 50% after three months, and 60% failed to follow through after six months.

Why is this, though?

It’s because we overestimate the importance of our will(power), and undervalue the necessity of what I like to call, “The Way”.

I’ll elaborate on this truth-bomb in a moment, but first, an anecdote.

A few months ago, I was on a small team for a solutions-based hackathon. In case you’re unfamiliar, a hackathon is an event where individual participants form teams to conceptualize, design, test, and prove a technical solution to a problem in a very limited time (usually just 24 to 36 hours) — essentially going through the process of design thinking. At the end of the time period, teams then pitch it to a panel of experts and investors for feedback. This hackathon was organized by StartupBootCamp, and it’s purpose was seeking innovative solutions to solve the 17 United Nations Sustainability Development Goals.