Avoid “Moral Licensing” To Keep Your Goals on Track

Reaching a goal usually takes a change of behavior.

But this mindset can ruin your goals in the long-term.

Business Insider’s Drake Baer describes the concept of telling yourself you “deserve” something.

For example, maybe you save ten percent of each paycheck for your retirement.

So you skip a payment and spend the money instead.

But then, you get right back into your old, regular habit of not saving.

It’s called moral licensing, and author Gretchen Rubin discusses it in detail on her blog.

Moral licensing is like finding a loophole to deviate from your habits, she explains.

We look for justifications that will excuse us from keeping this particular habit in this particular situation.

On the other hand, we’ve talked about how being too strict with your budgetcan backfire.

It’s important to give yourself some breathing room in your budget.

And that might seem to contradict this advice, but it actually compliments itbecause you’re planning your behavior.

Strategy of Loophole-Spotting #2: Moral Licensing| Gretchen Rubin viaBusiness Insider

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