Photo/Illutration For habitual smokers, it is not easy to quit smoking. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Here is an old joke: A man makes a wish and swears off drinking for three years. But the very next evening, he joins his drinking buddies at his regular watering hole.

“You off the wagon already?” asks one of his mates. “Nah,” the man replies, “I decided to stay off the booze for six years instead of just three, so I’m making up for the difference by drinking only at night.”

The friend then makes this suggestion: “If that’s the case, you might as well go for 12 years and start drinking at noon.”

I am sure many of you have made your New Year’s resolution, vowing to really stick to it this year: give up alcohol, keep a diary, jog every day, whatever.

The first three days of the new year have come and gone. Are you still plugging away with confidence? Or have you already raised the white flag of surrender, rather than drag it on?

“Mikka bozu” is a Japanese idiom for quitting something you started only three days ago.

Business consultant Yoshiaki Noguchi notes in his book "Konsarutanto no Shukanjutsu" (Habit-building tricks of a consultant) that people end up in mikka bozu because they don’t get the hang of how to stick to their commitment.

The trick seems to be having the ability to clearly define and understand your purpose, goal and the means by which to get there--not to just keep going by sheer willpower.

Here’s an example provided by Noguchi: Your purpose is to go abroad to study two years from now. Your goal is to score high on the TOEFL tests. The means by which you get there include listening to the 15-minute radio lecture course every day without fail.

It is also important, says Noguchi, to give yourself a pat on the back while working your way through.

Having written all that, I must confess with embarrassment that I just don’t believe myself to be capable of thinking and acting as logically as Noguchi lays out.

After the death of my father, I came across a few volumes of diaries he kept in his younger years. In every volume, his daily entries became sporadic around March, and by autumn, all the pages were completely blank.

And yet, he never failed to write in a new diary at the start of each year, “I resolve to keep writing throughout this year.”

Like father, like child, I guess.

If any of you are like me, let me share this well-known joke: “It's so easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it 1,000 times so far.”

Repeat the same mistake over and over, and regret it as many times. That makes you human.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 4

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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