The power of wording
Will I or I will: Which one is more powerful? Most of us would guess the definitive statement “I will” would move us in the direction of our goals much more than the question “Will I?” …and this is where we would be wrong. According to the latest psychological research in the area, the “Will I” question is powerful stuff. In a clever study conducted by Dr. Ibrahim Senay of the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), people trying to stick to a fitness regiment who asked the question “Will I go to the gym?” were much more likely to exercise on a regular basis than those who declared “I will go to the gym.” What is just as interesting is that those people who asked the question said that they were motivated to take more responsibility for their fitness. Those who declared they would go to the gym said their motivation was they didn’t want to feel guilty about not going. Simply by changing the order of the two words ‘will’ and ‘I’ the motivation was entirely different. According to Dr. Senay, the bottom line is this: People who ignite motivation from within are much more likely to be successful in the long run than those who attempt to hold themselves to a rigid standard.
