Thoughts on being accountable...

Question...


How does a person genuinely execute a significant life change? You make up your mind and do it... right? It's easy to get inspired, to feel someone or something has personally motivated you, and jump on board the "change-train" with all the necessary intensions. The problem is, reflecting on the late Chris Farley's infamous portrayal of the motivation speaker on Saturday Night LIve, intensions don't amount to "Jack Squat." 

Maybe you want to quit smoking. Maybe it's less internet porn. Or maybe... you want to stop allowing fear and self doubt to crush your creative capacities. The very thought of another day wading in complacency might disgust you, but you feel trapped and unsure of how to exit the conformist expressway. Plus... you know... nobody likes a whiner. 

Ulysses Contract

About a week ago I was listening to the NPR podcast Radiolab when an interesting discussion began about what is referred to as a Ulysses contract. Have you heard of this? According to Greek mythology, Ulysses (a.k.a. Odysseus) formed an immutable contract with his crew members as they prepared to sail past the Sirens, who used their seductive voices to lure vessels into shipwrecking on their rocky coastline. Knowing the deadly temptation of the Sirens enchanting music, Ulysses ordered his men to tie him to the mast so he could not escape and to put beeswax in their ears to shut out the Siren's voices. Under no circumstance were they allowed to change course.

Otto Greiner (1869-1916)
"Ulysses and the Sirens" (1902)

Other guests on the program spoke about how they created their own version of a Ulysses pact in order to implement the changes they desired - the idea being if that you back yourself up against a cliff, with no option of retreat, you must follow through. 


An inevitable problem with altering human behavior is that the immediate desire (I want to smoke) dominates the perceived future repercussion (threat of disease). An effective strategy then, according to experts on the show, is to convert that future consequence into a more present reality, so as to overpower the "now" desire with a more immediate negative result.  For instance, one woman declared that if she smoked again, she would donate $5,000 to the Ku Klux Klan. The thought of giving money to a racist, ignorant organization like the KKK was so revolting, that it transformed the future outcome of damaging her health into an immediate penalty - having to pay money to the KKK. According to her own testimony, she never smoked again.


The Ulysses contract, not to be confused with a deadline or half-ass commitment, might thus be a valuable way to induce change even if we have to invent a drastic outcome or impossible retreat. Don't get me wrong, deadlines and commitments are important to any worthwhile goal, but the Ulysses pact kicks it up a few notches, don't you think? Remember this the next time you say you're going to loose weight or write a book or run a marathon or... whatever. 


What I want to know, is what happens if you don't?