Brian Wansick at Cornell University studied 168 moviegoers who ate either fresh or stale popcorn from different size containers.  What he found is that people ate 45 percent more fresh popcorn from extra-large containers than large ones, and the people who were eating stale popcorn ate 34 percent more from the extra-large buckets than people eating fresh popcorn from large buckets. The lesson? The size of your bowl, plate and glass all matter in determining how much you'll eat. In fact, according to Wansink's research, we eat 92% of what's on our plate regardless of the size.

So what does this mean for our New Year's resolutions? Well, a lot actually. We tend to put a lot of pressure on "willing" ourselves into new behavior, but we don't often look at our environment to see what shifts we can make to passively encourage new choices. As an example, in my commitment to wanting to be more focused on my girls in the evenings, I realized that the temptation of checking emails was high, so I created a practice of shutting down my computer at night and leaving it upstairs in my office. I found I hate waiting for the computer to turn on and sneaking upstairs for a quick look wasn't easy, so I stopped. For the most part, my evenings are technology-free now. The general mantra is to keep good things close and convenient and bad things distant and difficult.

So that's why they say to get dressed as if you were going to work when you're looking for a job, because clothing actually creates a micro-environment and you are likely to be more productive and in a different mental state than if you are in your PJs. Cut up credit cards and use cash if you're working on reducing spending.  Reserve a few non-refundable hotels for weekends away with your partner if you want to spend more quality time together. Move your alarm clock to the other side of the room if you want to get up right when it goes off. What might be helpful to you?

This award-winning team of writers does it again. What I like about Change Anything is that it breaks down how we make change happen from six main sources: 1. Love what you hate- learn to like the changes you make; 2. Do what you can't- learn the skills through deliberate practice in order to make the changes you want; 3&4. Turn accomplices into friends- we all have people in our lives who sabatoge our best efforts- turn them into supporters. 5. Invert the economy- by bribing yourself and raising the cost of bad behavior you can actually get yourself to act in ways you want 6. Control your space- use the environment to become an ally for the change you want rather than a barrier. 

It's an engaging book, with good examples and really breaks down the change process which will increase your likelihood of success! (Their book Influencer does the same thing in an organizational context).