Am I Being Too Hard On People With My Willpower Experiment

[David Sklansky]

I tend to be very unforgiving toward people who don't stick to their resolutions. Especially if it is chronic. At the very least I expect tham to take note of their propensity to continue eating, drinking, not exercising, not studying, or whatever, after they tell everybody how they will change. Which means at the very least they should stop making these statements so as not to continue disappointing people around them. Tell us AFTER you accomplish something.

The reply I get is that I should understand human frailty better. Some people have little willpower and it is cruel for me to expect them to confront that fact. If they want to continually talk about their plans for the future, that I know won't happen, I should just let them.

They also go on to say that the ability to show willpower is an individual thing. I can't judge unless I walk a mile in their shoes. Perhaps they have just as much willpower as I do. They don't push themselves like I do (I actually do in some regards, notwithstanding my "laziness" admission elsewhere.) because the discomfort or pain is greater to them than to me. Whether it be doing twenty pushups, drinking pomegranite juice, or reading a science book.

I agree. But then to rebut them I propose an experiment. I offer them money to entice them to do what they never do after merely saying they want to and will. And lo and behold they now do it! This has actually happened for moderate money. When it does, I claim that their arguments about themselves have been shown to be basically hogwash. Am I being too tough on them?