Commit to Win

March 17, 2014
As New Year’s resolutions fade and best-laid plans dissolve, Reeder, a psychologist at Boise State University and corporate consultant, offers a guide on how to successfully stick to new choices and relationships. Reeder’s book follows a clever equation (adapted from social psychologist Caryl Rusbult) of rewards, outlays, and contingencies to show readers at once how commitment ebbs and flows, and also the best ways to control and affect outcomes. Each element is examined through thorough grounding in experimental psychology, showing how even these elements can be used to your advantage. These studies and their surprising conclusions make up the bulk of the book. Rewards, for example, are best found at random—even better if they’re internal, rather than external—and it takes five times as many rewards to account for one countervailing difficulty. But the more you give, the more likely it is you’ll enjoy even the most onerous task. The last three chapters include useful exercises and action plans, which could be better integrated throughout the book, though still make for a practical, actionable guide to embracing commitments and goals.