With the new year approaching fast, we tend to associate the end of the calendar year with a time of setting new goals. Do they last? New Year’s resolutions are generally in the forefront of our priorities at the start of the year, but slowly slip to the back of our minds as the year progresses. But why do these resolutions always fail? According to health surveys conducted by Forbes, around 61.7% of people surveyed felt pressured to create New Year’s resolutions, with many of these survey participants ambitiously stating having three or more resolutions. When looking at other studies, however, only around 8% of people with New Year’s resolutions actually followed these goals throughout the entire year. Whether your goal is to be more social, start going to the gym, or focus more on school, here is some food for thought if you plan to stay committed to these intentions:
Being Uncomfortable Isn’t Comfortable
Although the appeal of improving your life as soon as the clock turns twelve seems exciting to many, the actual process of reaching our goals is not as fun. For many of us, our goals to change a stubborn habit or develop an ambitious one seem great in theory, but oftentimes we expect these changes to happen overnight. For instance, if someone has the goal of becoming more fit in the new year but doesn’t want to go to the gym or make an active effort to get fit, how will this resolution work? We have to prepare ourselves to become uncomfortable (if these goals were within our comfort zone, we would have addressed them already!). To fix a habit or create a new one, we should be ready for our status-quo to change. Although these goals might make our daily lives more difficult, establishing a consistent pattern and sticking to that pattern will foster more comfortability for the future.
Your Goals Might Be Too Big
Many people want to start the new year off with a bang: learning a new language, going on a diet, or cutting their budget significantly. As we think of our resolutions for 2025, however, we should be wary of setting the bar too high. Large goals can not only feel intimidating to start working toward, but also might not be realistic to continue throughout the year. Our minds love routine, so making large changes that are consistent in our lives can be extremely difficult. With this being said, our resolutions should be attainable by making small changes to ultimately reach our larger goal. For example, if your goal is to reduce the time you spend on your phone, try limiting your screen time by 5-10 minutes each day rather than cutting screen time out of your routine entirely. By making subtle changes instead of drastic ones, we prepare ourselves for long-term consistency and give ourselves structure to follow.
Do You Have a Gameplan?
So you have your attainable goals and you’re ready for change, but what now? How do you start with these goals? Making a game plan for your new habits might not be the most exciting step in your journey, but it’s definitely the most important! By creating a routine, we help our minds and bodies adjust to our new habits. When making a game plan, be sure to start with small strides and, as stated earlier, make these steps attainable. You might not think that these small changes in our everyday lives make much of a difference, but by going through with them, we train our minds to accept change. By being open to change and actively making ourselves change, we gain the ability not only to reach our goals in an organized manner, but also to make new changes in the future.
Having trouble coming up with realistic goals? Here are some ideas to get you started!
Some Attainable New Year’s Resolutions:
- Try to compliment at least one person a day
- List one thing you’re grateful for every day
- Try new dishes when going out to eat
- Drink an extra cup of water each day
- Opt to take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator
