Most NYRs Are Hard To Keep – Here’s My New and Failproof Approach to New Year’s Resolutions

If you’re someone who regularly sets New Year’s resolutions and often wonders why they never pan out, you are not alone. As far back as I can remember I’ve always had trouble keeping mine. I usually start with the best of intentions, but my results are never as desired. I eventually got tired of failing so I stopped making them years ago.

I know most will not agree with me, but I firmly believe making New Year’s resolutions is a waste of time, effort, and in many cases money; at least for me it is. A study done by researchers at the University of Scranton shows it only works for about 19% of individuals. Not very encouraging now, is it? 

I originally picked up the habit of setting resolutions every first of January only because everyone was doing it. And every single time I struggled with keeping them. In trying to find out why, I discovered it was because they were never something I badly wanted or felt strongly about. Over time I did learn to establish more sustainable resolutions. Like paying off my debt for example, this is something I’ve always wanted. I had a hard time doing that too. It took me some time to accept the fact that merely setting a resolution can never be enough. If I wanted to succeed, not only I needed to have a good roadmap, but I also needed to be willing and ready to change.

Let’s be honest, we all love the excitement of the end of year holidays mainly because a new year is coming and with it some glimmer of hope. It makes us want to better ourselves, hence the setting of new resolutions. In doing so however we rarely take into consideration the sacrifices we have to make to keep them. I find the biggest mistake most of us make when setting NYR is underestimating how hard it can be to embrace the change we want. The bottom line is our long term habits have deep roots and they can never easily be substituted for new ones. 

My new approach

I now look at the new year as an opportunity to reflect on the past year’s achievements. I focus more on the positive aspect of things and try to come up with ways to implement incremental changes to improve where I need to going forward. Case in point, paying off my debt used to mean working more hours which tends to be very exhausting. Now it means drinking one less glass of wine when I’m out with friends, and less impulse purchases when I have a little bit of extra money left at the end of the month after paying my bills. It’s all about aiming for long term goals and taking small but consistent steps to achieve them.  

All in all, making a resolution is similar to setting a goal. If you really feel you must set a New Year’s resolution, here’s my unsolicited advice: don’t merely set new resolutions or tie goals to the new year because you think you should do what everyone else is doing. Resolutions that don’t reasonably fit into your everyday life will never succeed. If getting healthier is your goal, spending money on a gym membership is one way but it isn’t the best way, especially if you’re only gonna use it once a week because of your busy life. Start making small changes in your eating habits instead. Real change comes when you take realistic approaches and commit yourself to achieving your goals.