Whether it’s getting fit, losing weight or wasting less time watching cult TV drama box-sets back-to-back, the time for New Year resolutions is here again.
With only 8% of us actually managing to keep up our resolutions, we’ve spoken to sustainability pledge experts (yes, such people do exist) at The DoNation for advice on what resolutions to make - and how to keep them.
1. Donate by doing
First off, be realistic. You might want to spend 2015 combatting climate change or saving the whale, but plenty of folk don’t. Well, in principle they might, but (a) they don’t know where to start (b) they can’t see how their individual actions will make a difference or (c) they’ve broken every previous New Year resolution they’ve ever made. Hence the fact that 38% of Americans never make a resolution and 17% do so infrequently.
So how to beat the apathy? Ask people to make a pledge, says Richard Parker, client relationship manager at The DoNation. The idea is simple: undertake a fundraising challenge (DoNation’s founder Hermione Taylor recently entered the Hever Castle Triathlon, for example), but instead of asking people to donate cash, request them to adopt a sustainable behaviour. If you’re stuck for ideas, The DoNation has 41 of them.
2. Alternative gifting
Perhaps you’re not one for climbing Mont Blanc or swimming The Thames. Worry not: alternatives exist. Ticketing is one. Instead of charging an entry fee to an event, say, ask for a pledge instead. This works for gifts too. Chances are you’ll have a birthday in 2015. Rather than buy you a present, request friends and family to set themselves a sustainable lifestyle target on your behalf. And if you’re getting married, ditch the gift list and make it a sustainability pledge wedding instead (people do, really).
3. Keep it brief
Research from the University of Scranton has shown that fewer than one in 10 achieve their New Year’s resolutions. Most of us last only a couple of weeks before hanging up our running shoes or reaching for that oh-so-tempting chocolate bar.
First off, therefore, get 31 December 2015 out of your head. Two months is a much more realistic target as people can see the end is in sight. What’s more, from a sustainability perspective it’s long enough to develop a habit and start to feel you’re actually making a difference: taking the train from London to Brussels is 14 times more carbon efficient than flying, for instance, so if you’re making the journey every week then staying grounded begins to tot up.
Of those who completed a DoNation pledge, 81% say that they are still doing it a year later, Parker notes, a whopping 73% more than the 8% who achieve their New Year’s resolutions.
4. Go public
Backing out of a resolution is easy when only you know about it. It’s much harder when your promise to cycle to work or switch your computer off overnight is stapled to the office noticeboard. Likewise, if your work colleagues are sponsoring your 50km walk by going meat-free or stopping smoking then it’s a little trickier to duck out half-way.
Tapping into peer pressure and people’s competitive instincts are also possible when your resolution is out there for all to see. Environmental consultancy ERM, for instance, invited its 374 UK employees to walk up the stairs rather than take the lift. (15 seconds in a lift uses as much energy as turning on a 60W bulb for an hour). To egg them on, it pitted teams of volunteers in its eight UK offices against one another. Over half of the workforce participated, saving 10,943kg of carbon dioxide equivalent and reducing unknown inches from their collective waistlines.
5. Amuse yourself
The main problem with making resolutions is that they can quickly feel like a chore. “We’ve all got busy lives”, says DoNation’s straight-talking Parker, “so make it fun.” It doesn’t have to be rip-roaring, bellyaching fun either. Marketing consultancy Added Value, for example, introduced the simple custom of ringing a bell in the office every time an employee carried out a “DoAction” pledge. It’s working .
Gamification fulfils a similar function. Changers CO2 provides a case in point. The smartphone app tracks the carbon from your personal transport decisions, earning you Recoins (a virtual green currency) for your fossil-fuel savings.
Spending time with friends is one of life’s universal joys, so why not give a social edge to your pledge? Think about the friend-making possibilities of lift-sharing, for example. BlaBlaCar asks wannabe passengers to rate their chattiness levels (‘Bla’, BlaBla’ or, if you’re especially talkative, ‘BlaBlaBla’) while London-based GoodGym helps you ditch the self-absorption of the treadmill for shared runs which also include helping out on a community project.
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