I Am Not Legally Allowed To Say I Am the Best Florida Lawyer

A study of horse track betting found that just after placing a bet, bettors are much more confident of their horse’s chances of winning than they are immediately before putting their money on the line. In reality, nothing about the horse’s chances change; it’s the same horse, same track, same competition.

So what is it that causes the bettors to think the horse’s odds have increased? It is our almost irresistible desire to be and to appear consistent with what we have already done. Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures will cause us to respond to future events in ways that justify our earlier decisions.

In fact, our need to be (and appear to others as) consistent is a central motivator of our behavior. This theory is propounded by such prominent thinkers as Leon Festinger, Fritz Heider and Theodore Newcomb, and numerous studies bear out their predictions.

Obviously, we can’t be consistent with absolutely everything we say and do. It’s impossible and, in fact, inadvisable because things change and we receive new information. So if we deeply desire and need to be consistent, then where do we draw the line? What statements or actions do we choose to be consistent with and which do we let slide? Researchers have found that the key factor is whether or not we make a commitment to that statement or action. It is the commitment that determines our future behavior. If we make a strong commitment, our future behavior is virtually guaranteed to be consistent with that commitment.

However, researchers have found that even small commitments can lead to extraordinary future behavior. For example, during the Korean War, American intelligence learned that the Chinese treated captive soldiers very differently than any other country. While the North Koreans favored savage punishment to gain compliance, the Red Chinese specifically avoided even the appearance of violence or brutality. The Chinese approach was devastatingly effective.

The Chinese were very effective in getting Americans to inform on one another in contrast to the American solidarity in WWII. Escape attempts were usually uncovered in advance and on the off chance an escape succeeded, the Chinese usually recovered the man very quickly by merely offering a bag of rice to any prisoner who would turn his fellow soldier in. In fact, nearly all American prisoners in Chinese camps collaborated with the enemy in one form or another.

The Chinese approach exploited our need to be consistent to our commitments. The Chinese started by asking the POWs to write small, incredibly mild anti-American and pro-Communist statements. If the soldiers refused, the Chinese would ask them to copy others’ written statements. The Chinese knew that the pen is mightier than the sword. The North Koreans did not understand this.

A written statement is a deeper commitment than a simple oral statement. A writing provides physical proof that the act occurred. Once a POW wrote something, it was very difficult to believe he had not. The opportunities to forget the act or deny it were not available as they are with the spoken word. And now, I’ve come around the very long way to the purpose of this blog.

Shortly before I read about the Chinese tactics, I wrote my blog about text messaging. Separately, I also wrote down my personal goals for different time frames: 1 year goals, 3 year goals and lifetime goals. I’ve never written my goals down before, but I am now a firm believer in the power of the written word. I experienced a change in my behavior brought about solely because I wrote a blog.

If you haven’t read my text messaging blog, it chastises those who text message while driving cars. Now I have to admit that when I wrote that, I was being a complete hypocrite. I always complained about people texting and driving, but I still did it myself. I would often tell the story of a person I saw driving in Miami who was texting as she was entering I-95 from an on-ramp. This is an example of me acting inconsistently with my statements because I had not made a commitment to not texting while driving.

That all changed when I blogged about the dangers of texting while driving. It’s funny, as I was writing it, I laughed out lout because I felt like a complete hypocrite. However, the very next day as I was leaving the office I reached for my phone to write a text but stopped myself. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to act inconsistently with what I had written. I had no problem doing it when I only spoke out against it, but the minute I put that statement to paper I made commitment to the idea.

More importantly, I had made a public commitment by publishing that blog. A published written commitment is a powerful one and one that I found it impossible to act inconsistently with even though no one was in the car with me to see me. I had policed myself. Then when I read about the Chinese POW tactics, I recognized what had happened to me and my jaw dropped.

I immediately recognized the power of the written word and thought of how, at the urging of my dad, I had written down my goals. Now that I know how powerful a simple blog was in affecting change in a simple behavior, I want to harness that power to impact my goals. So with this blog, I will publish my goals. Therefore, it will be even more difficult for me to act inconsistently with them.

Here goes: I’ve broken my goals up into categories like business, health, fun, etc. My goals I want to accomplish before Jan. 1, 2010 are: double my business’s revenue, hire a superstar employee, run a 10k averaging 7.5 minute miles, complete a half-Ironman, and surf either in San Diego or Hawaii.

My goals I want to realize before Jan. 1, 2012 are: spend one month per year away from Daytona Beach on a work vacation, quadruple my business’s revenue, complete the Florida Ironman, run a 10k averaging 7 minute miles, participate in Chris Carmichael’s bicycle camp in Asheville, NC with my dad, and surf in Indonesia.

My lifetime goals are to make my business work for me, not me for my business, to spend months per year away from Daytona Beach, establish and grow a non-law related business, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, ride a mountain stage of the Tour de France the day before the Tour riders do and then watch them do it the next day, surf Teahupoo in Tahiti, and run a 10k averaging better than 6.5 minute miles.

Trust me, this goal writing stuff is powerful. Give it a try. Make your commitments public, make them strong and you’ll likely be shocked at how powerful that simple act will be