Peter Bregman called me yesterday to tell me about an article in the September 18, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, about the neuro-psychology of financial decision-making.  He said there were a number of concepts very key to our understanding of health behaviors as well, specifically those related to doing things that involve delayed gratification.

One example is the "Christmas Account" many banks offer. Check out this deal: a zero-interest account with a penalty for early withdrawal. Woo-hoo!

Yet it's a popular option, despite the fact that it makes no "rational" sense. Why? 

Because of the concept of pre-commitment: your rational brain makes a decision, and then sets up conditions to constrain your "irrational" brain when it wants to sabotage that decision.

I think of the metaphor of having to get out of a hot bath on a chilly morning. I find it difficult to just jump out. But it's easy to pull the stopper out of the drain. I don't feel it at all -at first. Then when the water level drops, I'm forced to get out.

I'm part of a morning exercise group in my community. Several times I've been the first one there, and found myself wishing that the others wouldn't show up so I could go back to bed. On Friday, I was a couple of minutes late. Robert laughed as I entered and said, "Oh, we were hoping you wouldn't show up so we could all go back to bed."

That's when I truly understood the value of exercising in a community. Gyms, personal trainers, workout partners - they all represent forms of pre-commitment. We would do much more not to let someone else down than we'd do for ourselves. Knowing that someone else is depending on you to perform a certain behavior that's good for you, but you won't necessarily want to do in that moment, is a powerful motivator until the behavior itself becomes its own reward.

I told Peter that we should make a deal - whenever one of us eats something we think is bad for us, we immediately have to go online and PayPal the other one a dollar. Another example of pre-commitment.

If you're interested in signing up for this plan, I may open it up to the entire human race. Here's the deal: every time you eat something that isn't good for you, PayPal me a dollar. Every time you skip a workout, PayPal me two dollars. I'm sure my administrative headaches will be massive, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it will help you choose a healthy way of eating. It's the least I can do…