The title of this article has just achieved two things:

1. It got you to read the article.
2. It explained why we don’t stick to the things we say we’ll do.

Yes, all in just one sentence.

You don’t believe it, do you? Then let’s break down the sentence, shall we?

• If you don’t read this NOW…
• … You’ll hate yourself LATER.

It is about a trade-off between what we will get now and later. And which one will win? For 99% of the cases, NOW will win.

• We would rather play games now, and delay doing our assignment for later.
• We enjoy this chocolate cake now, and postpone our plan to lose weight later.
• We buy that must-have new television set now, and defer savings for retirement later.

Why we don’t stick to our commitment? Why we don’t stick to a diet?

Because NOW wins over later.

It’s simple to understand. The difficult, yet more important, part is how do we overcome this? How to stick to our commitment? How to stick to a diet?

What made you start reading this article?

In this case, LATER has won against now. You would rather read this article now, rather than regret it later. Maybe you perceive the ‘punishment’ later (regret 0f having make a mistake) is greater than the benefit that you can get now (spend time doing something more enjoyable than reading this article).

To stick to a commitment, to stick to a diet, we must either increase the ‘punishment’ or ‘reward’ at LATER time, so that it will win against the benefit of now.

This article is the first part of How to Stick to a Diet Series.

1. If you don’t read this now, you’ll hate yourself later.
2. Here’s how plan A help you stick to a diet.
3. Here’s how plan B help you stick to a diet.
4. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s dieting tips.