Whether it’s to exercise more, spend less money or start cooking again, we’ve all made new year’s resolutions and they’ve become a fixture of the holidays.
Social media and marketing departments make it their mission to convince us how we can be better and healthier and stronger in the new year. But the “new year, new you” mentality begs the question: does a clock actually have the power to change you from the person you were 12 hours ago?
There’s something compelling about everyone committing to a new goal at the same time and together recognizing that Jan. 1 symbolically turns over a new leaf.
It’s easy to decide that this will be the year to get healthy, to start running regularly or stop eating at fast food joints because the idea of it sounds pretty great. Making a resolution at midnight at the turn of the year has become a social activity, but it’s a whole different story as to whether these resolutions are actually effective.
The big problem with new year’s resolutions is that they don’t usually work.
New year’s resolutions are “inherently a cultural form of procrastination,” said Tim Pychyl, a psychology professor at Carleton, in an article on the value of making resolutions.
“It mirrors what we do day to day, moment to moment, but we do it because it’s culturally scripted. We love this. It excuses our delay,” he said, expanding on how we feel good after setting a resolution for the future because we don’t have to act upon it right away.
We all love the idea of getting healthy and spending less money. But to accomplish this, you need to sit down and work through how you’re actually going to achieve it. This requires a different mindset and set of goals.
Instead of resolving to lose weight, or drop 20 pounds, commit to going to the gym three times a week. Rather than vowing to eat healthier, plan your meals for the week ahead of time to avoid having to eat out. Instead of resolving to work harder at school, make a study schedule and go to the library for a certain number of hours each week. By being more specific and focusing on steps that can be measured, resolutions change from a far off fantasy of your ideal future self to a concrete goal that’s attainable.
Only eight per cent of people who make New Year’s resolutions stick to them, according to a 2014 study produced by researchers at the University of Scranton. It found the top three resolutions of 2014 were: to lose weight, get organized, and spend less.
Have you ever written a to-do list or organized your planner just for the sake of feeling like you’re doing something? We like to feel productive and like we’re accomplishing things. When we write lists, schedules, and goals they become more than an idea floating in our head, they become a tangible thought on a piece of paper.
Making a resolution feels like that first step. But the problem is when resolutions are too generic to know where to begin. We then end up with a false sense of productivity simply from having made a resolution, regardless of whether we get past that first step.
If you’re one of that eight per cent who succeeded in committing to last year’s resolution, it probably wasn’t a dare or a decision made at the stroke of midnight with a circle of friends.
Resolutions, in the sense of setting and achieving goals for yourself should be part of your everyday life—not limited to Jan. 1.
Sticking to a resolution requires willpower, attainable steps, and tangible results that can be measured. Without this, you’ll fall into the 92 per cent of the population who didn’t follow through.
