The Enemy Within: Why Do New Year’s Resolutions Always Fail?

Behavioral Economics’ Secret to Self-Control: Win with ‘Design’, Not Willpower

Where are your ambitious New Year’s plans like ’exercise three times a week,’ ‘save 500,000 won monthly,’ and ‘quit smoking’ now? Even if they ended in a three-day resolution, don’t blame yourself too harshly. It may not be your weak willpower. Inside us live two selves engaged in a daily fierce battle.

On one side is the wise ‘Planner’ who exercises, saves, and cares for health for long-term happiness. On the other side is the impulsive ‘Doer’ who shouts “Just for today!” while lying on the couch watching Netflix, shopping impulsively, and indulging in sweet desserts. The problem of self-control is this eternal civil war between these two selves.

This article takes a deep look at our inner war through the lens of behavioral economics. Why does our ‘Planner’ repeatedly lose to the ‘Doer’? And to win this war, what powerful ‘strategic weapon’ can we use, like Ulysses who tied himself to the mast? We will explore concrete and practical methods to overcome immediate temptations and create a better future self in all areas of life—finance, health, work.

Part 1: Two Voices Within: Planner vs. Doer

To understand why we act against our best interests, we must first acknowledge our inner split. Traditional economics viewed us as always rational single agents, but reality is different. To address this, 2017 Nobel laureates Richard Thaler and Hersh Shefrin proposed in 1981 an innovative idea viewing the individual as an ‘organization.’

1.1. Principal and Agent: An Organization Within

Thaler and Shefrin likened our self-control problem to the corporate ‘principal-agent problem.’ Just as a company’s owner (shareholder) wants long-term profit but the agent (CEO) may focus on short-term results, inside us exist two entities with different goals.

• Planner: The ‘owner’ inside us. Rational and future-oriented, the Planner aims to maximize lifetime happiness. This wise self envisions the big picture: long-term health from steady exercise, stable retirement from saving, disease prevention from quitting smoking.
• Doer: The ‘agent’ inside us. Present-focused and impulsive, the Doer seeks only immediate pleasure and satisfaction. To the Doer, exercise is a hassle, saving is giving up, quitting smoking is pain. It is highly vulnerable to immediate temptations.

Self-control failure arises from this conflict. The Planner sets long-term plans, but the Doer holds the key to actual behavior. The Planner must use a resource called ‘willpower’ to control the Doer, but willpower is limited. It is a mentally exhausting process, and when depleted, we easily succumb to temptation. This explains structurally why our resolutions often end in ’three-day resolutions.’

1.2. 110,000 Won Tomorrow vs. 100,000 Won Today: The Magic of Present Bias

Why is the Doer so shortsighted? The secret lies in a psychological phenomenon called hyperbolic discounting. We do not evaluate time consistently. Especially, the value between ’now’ and the near future drops sharply. This causes present bias, where immediate rewards are excessively preferred over larger future rewards.

Consider these questions:

• Question 1: “Would you prefer 100,000 won in 30 days or 110,000 won in 31 days?”
• Question 2: “Would you prefer 100,000 won today or 110,000 won tomorrow?”

Most people rationally choose to wait one more day for 10,000 won in the first question—this is the Planner’s voice. But in the second, many say “Just give me 100,000 won today!” showing a preference reversal. At this moment, the future-looking Planner is overwhelmed by the temptation-prone Doer. For the Doer, waiting even one day is a great pain.

Part 2: Saving Your Future Self: The Commitment Strategy

Having diagnosed the inner conflict, now we need a prescription. Behavioral economics offers the most powerful remedy: the commitment strategy.

2.1. Like Ulysses Tied to the Mast

A commitment strategy means that the present self deliberately restricts future choices or raises the cost of certain options to prevent the future self from making foolish choices (akrasia).

The classic example is the Greek myth of Ulysses (Odysseus). He had to pass the Sirens’ island, whose deadly beautiful songs lured sailors to their deaths. He wanted to hear the song but knew he would jump into the sea if he gave in. So, his rational present self made a commitment to control his future self: he ordered his crew to plug their ears with wax and to tie him firmly to the mast. Thanks to this, he safely sailed past while hearing the song.

This is the essence of commitment devices: the rational Planner preemptively controls the impulsive Doer. Effective commitments must be voluntarily adopted and have clear negative consequences if broken.

2.2. How Commitment Works

Commitment devices leverage our psychological weaknesses to help us.

• Loss Aversion: We feel the pain of losing 100,000 won about twice as strongly as the joy of gaining it. Betting money on quitting smoking and losing it if we fail creates a stronger motivation than the joy of success.
• Social Accountability: Publicly declaring “I’m starting a diet today!” to friends, family, or social media raises the cost of failure beyond just not losing weight—it damages reputation as someone who breaks promises.
• Sunk Costs: Imagine buying a non-refundable one-year gym membership. The money already spent motivates you to go more often.
• Reducing/Increasng Friction: The simplest and strongest method. Make desirable actions easy (e.g., automatic savings from salary) and undesirable actions hard (e.g., deleting game apps).

2.3. Your Arsenal of Commitment Devices

Commitment strategies come in many forms. What weapons can you use to defeat your Doer?

Table 1: Types of Commitment Devices

• Commitment apps (e.g., StickK): Lose pledged money on failure
• Prepayment: Annual gym membership
• Withdrawal-restricted savings: No withdrawal until goal reached | | Social Commitment | Uses reputation, peer pressure, social recognition. (Social norms, public accountability) | - Public declarations: Announcing goals on social media
• Accountability partners: Friends monitoring progress
• Study groups/team sports: Obligation to not let others down | | Friction-based/Physical | Makes bad behaviors harder and good behaviors easier. (Effort heuristics, choice architecture) | - Temptation removal: No junk food at home, deleting distracting apps
• Temptation bundling: Pairing enjoyable activities (podcasts) with necessary ones (exercise)
• Smaller portions: Limiting intake
• Effort agreements: Screen time limit apps |

Part 3: Commitment in Reality: Success Stories

Commitment strategies are not just theory; they powerfully change behavior in real life.

3.1. Make Saving Automatic: “Save More Tomorrow”

Finance is where the present Doer most easily defeats the future Planner. To solve this, Richard Thaler co-designed the brilliant “Save More Tomorrow” program.


The program’s core is simple: employees are automatically enrolled in retirement plans, and savings contributions automatically increase with pay raises. It uses several psychological tricks:

1. Automatic enrollment: People tend not to change defaults. Making saving the default means doing nothing equals saving.
2. Avoiding loss aversion: Increasing savings only after pay raises means people don’t feel a reduction in take-home pay, so resistance is low.
3. Preventing procrastination: Once enrolled, everything happens automatically, removing the chance to delay.

This program dramatically increased retirement savings in the U.S. The Philippines’ SEED accounts prevent withdrawals until goals are met, boosting saving success. In Kenya, distributing lockable piggy banks increased household health spending.

3.2. Health: Bet Money and Reputation with StickK & Beeminder

Health is the fiercest battlefield between the Planner (fit, healthy body) and the Doer (craving fried chicken now). Modern technology has created sophisticated weapons to help the Planner.

Case Studies: StickK and Beeminder

• StickK: Developed by Yale economists, this app lets users make commitment contracts with penalties for failure. You can designate where your penalty money goes—even to charities or groups you dislike (e.g., rival political parties, sports fan clubs). Imagining your money going to a hated place maximizes loss aversion, motivating you to succeed.
• Beeminder: This app shows a ‘yellow brick road’ graph toward your goal based on data. If you stray (e.g., miss daily exercise), a pre-agreed penalty is automatically charged to your card. Immediate, harsh feedback leaves no room for the Doer’s laziness.

These apps have increased smoking cessation success rates by 40%. Paying a personal trainer upfront or making exercise appointments with friends works on the same principle.

3.3. Set Deadlines for Yourself: Fighting Procrastination

Procrastination is a major enemy in work and study. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely discovered an interesting solution through an experiment dividing students into three groups:

• Group 1: No deadlines (submit by semester end)
• Group 2: Professor sets three evenly spaced deadlines
• Group 3: Students set their own three deadlines

Results? As expected, Group 1 performed worst, Group 2 best. The most interesting was Group 3: despite penalties, they voluntarily set earlier deadlines than the semester end. This shows the Planner’s distrust of the lazy future Doer, self-imposing shackles. Consequently, Group 3 scored much higher than Group 1. Publicly committing to a deadline at work has the same effect.

Part 4: The Pitfalls of Commitment: The Dark Side of Self-Binding

But commitment strategies are not a cure-all. Poorly designed commitments can backfire.

4.1. The Illusion of “I’ll Be Fine”

If commitments are so effective, why don’t more people use them? The biggest reason is underestimating their self-control problems. Most people are overly optimistic that their future self will keep current resolutions, so they don’t feel the need to restrict future choices.

4.2. Poor Design Leads to Failure

Sometimes commitments do harm. One study found 55% of low-income participants in commitment savings programs failed and lost money, making the commitment worse than none. The cause was underestimating their self-control issues and setting penalties too weak. The Doer’s temptation was stronger than the Planner’s weak penalty.

4.3. Risks of Inflexible Commitments

• Sunk Cost Trap: Once committed, people may irrationally stick to plans despite changed circumstances, fearing wasted money or reputation. For example, forcing oneself to attend prepaid gym classes despite illness.
• Learned Helplessness: Overreliance on external devices may hinder developing internal self-regulation. Commitment devices should be training wheels, not permanent crutches.

Considering these risks, commitment strategies must be carefully designed.

Table 2: Risks and Mitigation of Commitment Devices

• Simplify participation process | | Harmful Noncompliance/Weak Commitments | Weak penalties lead to failure and losses. | - Recommend effective penalty levels
• Use adjustable or revocable flexible commitments
• Allow data-driven adjustments | | Rigidity / Sunk Cost Trap | Trapped in suboptimal plans due to prior investments. | - Include ’escape clauses’ for legitimate changes
• Encourage periodic goal reviews
• Use less rigid ‘soft’ commitments (e.g., social) | | Learned Helplessness | Excessive reliance on external constraints impedes internal growth. | - Combine commitment devices with skill-building (e.g., CBT)
• Design devices to phase out after habit formation |

Part 5: Conclusion: It’s Not Willpower, It’s Design

Self-control is no longer a mysterious realm of willpower. It is an engineering problem of understanding the conflict between Planner and Doer and creating a well-designed path to block the Doer’s impulses.

Recommendations for Action

What should we do to win this long internal war?

For Individuals:

• Know Yourself: Are you naïve, underestimating your impulsiveness? Or partially sophisticated, aware but underestimating severity? Accurate self-knowledge is the start.
• Break Goals Down: Instead of huge goals like ’lose 10kg,’ set small achievable goals like ’eat salad tonight.’ Small wins build big success.
• Combine Weapons: If money motivates you, use monetary commitments; if social pressure works, use social commitments. Combining multiple devices (e.g., monetary commitment publicly declared on social media) multiplies effectiveness.

For Organizations and Policymakers:

• Change Defaults: To help employees or citizens make better choices, make those choices the default. Automatic enrollment in retirement plans is a prime example. Nudges work better than mandates.
• Reduce Friction: Make the path to good behavior smooth and the path to bad behavior rough. Simplifying paperwork alone can significantly change behavior.

Ultimately, successful self-control depends not on stronger willpower but on recognizing your weaknesses and designing smart systems to compensate. Now is the time to create your own Ulysses commitment so your Planner can finally defeat your Doer.