The beginning of a new calendar year is always an event to celebrate. Whether you spent the evening watching festivities on TV, or you went out to a party with friends, New Year’s celebrations acknowledge the passing of time. As that time passes, many individuals create New Year’s resolutions in hopes of changing their habits and bettering themselves with the promise of a fresh start.
For university students, the new year also means the beginning of a new semester, where students have the opportunity to refresh their study habits from the fall semester.
But even with all the right intentions to follow through with these resolutions, 73 per cent of Canadians who make New Year’s resolutions will eventually break them, according to a 2015 Ipsos poll.
Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals
“Goal-setting in general is extremely useful. There is a lot of research that shows that by having a goal you are more likely to achieve [something] than if you don’t set an actual goal,” said Marina Milyavskaya, a Carleton psychology professor and the principal investigator at the Goal Pursuit and Self-Regulation Lab, a research lab on campus that looks into how goal pursuit affects health and well-being.
She said goal-setting, regardless of the time of year, begins with a large amount of planning and time management.
“It is all about the kind of goals you set. There is a lot of research showing that goals that are specific, realistic, that can be measured, you are more likely to obtain them,” Milyavskaya said.
According to Carleton’s Healthy Workplace initiative website, the best way to set goals is by using the acronym S.M.A.R.T.:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-based
S.M.A.R.T. goals answer who, what, where, when, why, and how questions, help to monitor your goal-achieving progress, allow you to break up your large goal into simpler, more attainable ones, and have a time frame that ensures you start working towards your goal right away, according to Carleton’s Healthy Workplace website.
“I personally set goals and try to stay motivated all year round. You can restart your ‘day’ at any time. There’s no deadline, finish line or starting line, [you] just have to do it and realize everyday is a chance to be closer to where you want to be.”
—Taylor Plant, first-year Carleton international business student
Tips and tricks to achieve your goals
Carleton psychology professor Tim Pychyl said that time management is not necessarily the problem for procrastinating on New Year’s resolutions, it’s an issue of students not doing what they say they are going to.
Pychyl said this is called “voluntary delay.” It refers to when people frequently don’t live up to their schedules and continue to procrastinate on their goals.
“Many students have an idea of what’s due and when they should get started,” Pychyl said. “The problem [is that] it’s Tuesday morning and they say, ‘I’m going to work on this assignment.’ But then what they think is, ‘I don’t feel like it, I don’t want to,’ and then they can’t manage their emotions. They think they have to be in the mood and so it’s not that they’re not managing their time, it’s they’re unable to manage their emotions.”
To overcome this, Pychyl recommended three keys to developing strong habits:
1. Do not wait to be “in the mood” to start achieving.
2. Know that you are not going to feel like it, but stick through it anyway.
3. Continually ask yourself, “What is the next action?”
Like S.M.A.R.T. goals, he said goals should be set based on a longer period of time to track progress and avoid leaving achievement to the last minute.
“When your back’s against the wall, most people get going, but they do worse work, and they are likely to believe they work better under pressure, but research doesn’t support that,” Pychyl said, referring to the fact that goals are unlikely to be achieved on an urgent deadline.
“With no time frame tied to it, there’s no sense of urgency,” he said.
“It is all about the kind of goals you set. There is a lot of research showing that goals that are specific, realistic, that can be measured, you are more likely to obtain them.”—Marina Milyavskaya, Carleton psychology professor and lead investigator at the Goal Pursuit and Self-Regulation Lab
Do students create New Year’s resolutions?
Salim Deaibes, a first-year math student at Carleton University, said he finds that New Year’s resolutions need to be more thoughtfully planned out.
“I’m technically for the idea [of resolutions], but I find that the way people go about putting them into practice is wrong,” Deaibes said. “Since some people are less motivated, I’d say the goals need to be thought about in depth.”
“I think we should constantly be making resolutions in order to overcome our own flaws and weaknesses, not only at the beginning of the year,” he added.
Taylor Plant, a first-year Carleton international business student, said she tries to set goals for personal development year-round.
“I feel like [New Year’s] is just another regular day to me to be honest,” Plant said. “I personally set goals and try to stay motivated all year round. You can restart your ‘day’ at any time. There’s no deadline, finish line or starting line, [you] just have to do it and realize every day is a chance to be closer to where you want to be.”
“Life’s a little too short to keep postponing the effort needed to give in order to feel good and fulfilled,” she said.
So, how’s your New Year’s resolution going?
– Graphics by Christophe Young
