New Year’s Resolutions - The Good, the Bad, and How to Do Them Properly
New Year’s Resolutions. We’re all familiar with them, and with the year coming to a close, many of us are already thinking about what resolutions we should set for the next 12 months.
And man do people love them.
In fact, I’m convinced that half the people setting New Year’s Resolutions won’t set a single new goal for the rest of the year. This is it - their one chance to achieve something big.
But that’s crazy, right? After all, setting goals is a core part of becoming a badass.
It gets even crazier when we acknowledge that only 91% of the people setting New Year’s Resolutions end up failing them.
With that in mind, I want to kick things off by talking about the problems with New Year’s Resolutions.
The Problems
There are two simple reasons why most New Year’s Resolutions end in failure.
The first is that people just aren’t that serious about it. After all, if you really wanted to make something happen, why would you wait until some future date to get started. If it’s important, wouldn’t you get to work immediately?
With that in mind, New Year’s Resolutions often become the convenient excuse for why people don’t have to take action now. They’ll worry about it on January 1st.
The second reason is that New Year’s Resolutions tend to be way too daunting. It’s a goal that you need to stick to for an entire year, which for most people, makes it an impossible task where failure is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.
Now, while I do think you should pursue your goals immediately, that doesn’t mean New Year’s Resolutions are without their benefits. Let’s go through those next.
The Benefits
As mentioned above, people often use New Year’s Resolutions as a delay tactic for goals they aren’t completely committed to. That’s a fact.
But it’s also true that delays can sometimes be beneficial. Perhaps you need to rest and unwind, or perhaps you have circumstances that prevent you from devoting enough time or energy to make worthwhile progress.
Sometimes delaying until you’ve taken care of a barrier is the right move.
Whether that’s the case or not, beginnings and endings can have a profound psychological effect on us. We all know the feeling of waking up in the morning to a new day. To some degree, it feels like a clean slate - an opportunity to be better than our past selves.
The same is true for new weeks, new months, or even new years. In that sense, many people gravitate to their New Year’s Resolutions because it’s an opportunity to erase their past.
How to Set New Year’s Resolutions Properly
So, if New Year’s Resolutions come with both good and bad attached, what’s the verdict? Should we still set them?
Absolutely. But not in a haphazard manner.
With that in mind, I’ve outlined a few key principles for you to follow:
Don’t set a year-long resolution - it’s too overwhelming. Stick with shorter-term goals that seem manageable and allow you to feel successful more often. To start, just aim for accomplishing something in January (or even just 2-3 weeks if a month feels like too much). It might seem like you’re undercutting your potential, but in truth, you’re more likely to see long-term results if you make your goal feel like something you can actually stick to.
Follow the standard goal setting principles - I’ve written about them in a previous article. Check them out here.
Focus on things you’ve struggled with in the past - Rather than setting new goals, make the most of the clean slate and re-attempt things you’ve struggled with in the past.
Revise your strategy as you go - It’s not about being perfect. You’re practically guaranteed to face obstacles along the way. Remember that these aren’t signals to give up. They’re just telling you to try a new strategy.
So there you have it. Follow the steps above and you’ll have a much better chance of actually sticking with your goals for the new year. Stay badass.