Many people celebrate the New Year by setting goals for themselves. While this is a noble pursuit in theory, the vast majority of these resolutions end up in failure. In fact, only eight percent of people actually succeed with their New Year’s resolutions. But why don’t more people follow through with their goals for the New Year?
Here’s why New Year’s resolutions often fall flat.
Don’t Wait for an Arbitrary Start Time
It’s difficult to put an exact number on how many people set New Year’s resolutions. However, pulling data from Google searches can tell us a lot about what people are looking up around that time. By far the most popular resolution-related search according to iQuanti is, “Get Healthy,” which garnered almost 63 million searches at the beginning of 2017.
The next top search query was “Get Organized,” with about 33 million searches. Clearly a lot of people are setting New Year’s resolutions for themselves. “Live Life to the Fullest,” “Learn New Hobbies,” and “Spend Less/Save More” all came in with between 15 and 20 million searches.
It’s safe to assume that a lot of these searches are coming from the same people. Still, more than 60 million people are choosing to use the New Year as an impetus to change themselves! The problem is that flipping to a new calendar year doesn’t actually change anything about you. This is why so many people end up failing with their New Year’s resolutions. They’re hoping that something external from them will allow them to change, when in reality, that motivation needs to come from within.
When you feel ready to change, don’t wait—do it! It doesn’t matter if it’s on January 1 or July 22. You’re only going to be successful with your transformation if you truly want it.
Don’t Be Abstract with Your Resolutions
What’s something that all of the top resolution searches from the previous section have in common? None of them imply any sort of specificity. There are a lot of things that go into “getting healthy.” It’s far more effective to think about specific things that you can do than to just set an abstract goal. For example, try to exercise twice per week and stop drinking as much soda. These are small, but easily achievable goals.
The same theory holds for getting to a better place financially. There are tons of approaches people can take in order to reach this goal. You can figure out how to more effectively budget your money. If you’re really in a tough spot with money, consider ways to reduce your debt levels. Organizations such as Freedom Debt Relief specifically work with clients who need help working with creditors. This isn’t too good to be true. Countless reviews and testimonials tell the show they have a track record of success.
People Don’t Set Realistic Goals for Themselves
Possibly the strongest underlying reason why so many people fail at sticking to their resolutions is because they don’t set realistic goals. There’s no way you can go from being a couch potato to running every day by just snapping your fingers. In order to be successful with your New Year’s resolutions, you need to be reasonable with yourself. This can be difficult—especially if you really need to drastically improve your life in a certain way. However, you won’t benefit by trying to go all or nothing.
Change takes time, and a ton of effort. That’s just the reality. But if you ease yourself into it with gradual improvements, after a few years, you’ll be able to look back and see that you’ve truly accomplished something great.
Few people manage to stick to their New Year’s resolutions. Actually, most people don’t even keep them for more than a month. About 80 percent of them have been abandoned by February. This is largely because people approach them with the wrong mentality. Change your thinking, and you’ll be able to make improvements to your life as well.
