Minute-by-Minute Improvements

If you think of self-improvement as a long and arduous climb, here’s one expert who’s out to prove you wrong. According to Richard Wiseman (richardwiseman.com), doctor of psychology and self-defined professor of “quirkology” at the University of Hertfordshire in England, “there are practical ways to improve your life quickly.”

Wiseman, whose latest book is 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (MacMillan, 2009), has earned an international reputation for research into such offbeat areas of psychology as deception, humor, and luck.

“For example,” he says, “if you made a resolution to lose weight, simply move a mirror into the kitchen. Literally watching what they eat makes people consume on average 30 percent fewer calories.” 

The advice in 59 Seconds is pithy and based on solid research. More than 1 million people have taken part in Wiseman’s experiments, and he’s been invited to speak at The Royal Society, Microsoft, and the California Institute of Technology. He emphasizes “the science part of the science of rapid change” and considers it his mission to “bust the myths about the self-help movement.” 

Number one on the myth-busting agenda is the famous Yale Goal Study, in which members of the 1953 graduating class were supposedly asked about what they wanted to achieve in the future. Only 3 percent of the survey participants were able to articulate exactly what they wanted out of life in terms of financial success, but when questioned 15 years later, that 3 percent had accumulated as much wealth as the other 97 percent combined. Stunning? The media thought so. The Yale Goal Study has been cited in innumerable articles about motivation within the last 57 years and is one of the basic tenets of the self-help movement. But the study has one major flaw: It never happened.

“This so-called scientific study has been quoted everywhere, which is a terrible thing,” says Wiseman. “People are making life choices based on a myth.” Perhaps the most lasting result of the Yale Goal Study is the prevailing idea that if you simply visualize yourself having something, your subconscious will automatically go to work to achieve it.

“Fantasizing about the perfect life may cheer you up for a few minutes,” says Wiseman. “But it doesn’t really motivate you.” He cites a University of California study – real this time – in which one group of students was asked to envision getting a high grade on a midterm. Another group of participants was directed to specifically visualize when, where, and how long they would study. A third control group went about business as usual.

After the midterm was graded, the students who simply visualized the high grade came out at the bottom, probably because they were so confident in the power of their visualization that they actually studied less. The students in the control group achieved average scores, and the students who visualized themselves going through the steps of studying had the highest grades. Bottom line: Rather than merely fantasize about your dreams becoming reality, imagine yourself taking the practical steps needed to reach your goals.

“Most people do visualizations and affirmations all wrong,” says Wiseman. “They focus on the end product when they should be focusing on the behaviors that will produce the end product.” In other words, don’t just picture that big commission check in your hand – visualize yourself calling on the client, gathering information, making follow-up visits, and closing the sale. This sort of multistep visualization programs your subconscious to nudge you through the sequence of necessary tasks and keeps you from getting frustrated when success doesn’t automatically fall into your lap.

“Any end product worth having takes some work,” Wiseman says. “People who don’t realize that and don’t focus on the steps give up too easily. They hit the first snag and think, ‘This visualization stuff doesn’t work,’ and then throw in the towel.” 

As for skeptics who believe you can’t really modify human behavior in a minute, Wiseman freely admits that you can’t accomplish every goal in fewer than 59 seconds. “Implementing some changes might take a little longer,” he says, “but you can grasp the concept in less than a minute. Once you understand the scientific theory behind why you behave as you do, you can progress very quickly.”

So…got a minute? Here are some of Wiseman’s tips on how you can change your day by changing one minor thing.

Overcome Procrastination

Procrastinators frequently postpone tasks because they’re daunted by the size of the job in front of them. But if you can persuade yourself to work on the activity for just a few minutes, you might wind up seeing it through to completion. In one study, subjects were asked to carry out a series of simple chores, such as putting toys in a box, but they were stopped halfway through some of the tasks and allowed to finish others. At the end of the experiment, the participants were asked to describe all the tasks they had done that day. The unfinished ones stuck in people’s minds far more than the ones they completed. The study concluded that if we begin something and don’t finish it, we develop a kind of psychic anxiety that can only be relieved by finishing the task.

So the next time you’re overwhelmed with a big project, make a small start, telling yourself you’ll only work on it for the 20 minutes before your lunch appointment. When you return to your desk in the afternoon, you may find yourself returning to the project, as well.

Get Lucky

Wiseman began his career as a magician and knows that the fundamental key to illusion is that people see what they expect to see. You can use this simple truth to get luckier, as he explained in his book The Luck Factor (Miramax, 2003). How? Lucky people think differently from unlucky people. They’re more open to new experiences, more likely to take risks, and less likely to follow routines. They’re also more relaxed and aware of their surroundings – an essential element of luck that Wiseman identified by asking subjects to flip through a newspaper full of photographs. The subjects, who had no idea the experiment was about luck, were only asked to count the number of photographs. On page three, beside one of the photographs, there was a massive paragraph in big print that read, “Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper, and if you tell the proctor you’ve seen this, you will win $200.” For the most part, the self-identified unlucky people flipped right past the announcement and keep counting, while the “lucky” ones read the notice and got the cash. 

Wiseman concluded that while our business culture teaches us to be hard driving and goal oriented, the luckiest people are actually a little less focused. They see the thing that’s beside the thing at which they’re looking. In the real world, there are opportunities all around us, but most people are so intent on the task at hand that they miss out on these chances. Lucky people get lucky precisely because they notice when life hands them an unexpected opportunity. They meet potential prospects on the golf course, while waiting in line at the airport, or perhaps even in the midst of a traffic accident. 

Increase Productivity

Merely putting a living plant on your desk has proven to increase workplace productivity by 15 percent. The presence of a plant implies to the subconscious mind an abundance of nearby food, so the mind can relax from the task of restless foraging and settle into more sustained work.

Get Happy

Think happiness is elusive? Put a pencil between your teeth. No, really. The pencil forces your mouth into a smile, which tells your brain that you’re happy. The result is a 30 percent increase in cheerfulness.

Meet Your Goals

Along with visualizing the sequential steps you need to take to achieve your goals, it helps to write goals down. “When we think about goals we’re often vague,” says Wiseman, “but writing them down helps you break the goals into smaller, more concrete steps. This is a good thing to do before you begin the visualization exercises.”

Be More Creative

This is an easy one. Just lie down. Studies show that creativity is linked to mood. We tend to be most creative when we’re relaxed, and we tend to be most relaxed when we lie down, which may explain why people get so many good ideas while soaking in bathtubs.

Create More Daily Satisfaction

People who are curious and try something new every day report much higher levels of confidence and contentment than their less adventurous counterparts. You don’t have to bungee jump or swim with the sharks. Wiseman suggests that even small gestures, such as ordering a dish you’ve never tried in a restaurant, striking up a conversation with a stranger, or watching a new TV show can satisfy your innate curiosity and make you feel more contented with your daily life.

Be Better Liked

The easiest way to improve your reputation in the office is to avoid saying negative things about other people. This means cutting out gossip no matter how tempting and criticisms no matter how well deserved you may believe them to be. Whatever bad thing you say about someone else, your listeners will conclude that it’s also true about you.

An Ohio University study showed that when subjects listened to tapes of a person criticizing a co-worker, they later consistently attributed the same negative traits to the speaker. The effect, known as spontaneous trait transference, means that if you get in a little dig at Dave, who is always running late for meetings, or pass along a theory that Jane got her job by fudging her resume, the people listening will unconsciously begin to associate tardiness and lying with you.

The inverse is also true. If you publicly praise co-workers or employees for their innovation or people skills, your listeners are more likely to think of you as creative and charming. So in this case at least, nice guys really do finish first.

And the Absolute Best Way to Spend 59 Seconds

It may sound morbid, but Wiseman suggests you spend one minute every day thinking about your funeral, or more specifically, how you would want your best friend to eulogize you. “That’s your legacy, your core values, what you want your life to add up to,” says Wiseman. “Ask yourself if you’re on track to living that kind of life, because only then do you know if you’re really working toward the right long-term goals.”