It’s a story as old as time. Every New Year you create New Year’s resolutions saying, “This year will be different; I’ll stick with it this year!” Then you stop doing them after a month, at best. If this is you, don't worry, you're not alone. 91% of people will fail to keep their resolutions for the whole year. 23% of people will fail within a week, and 64% of people will fail within the first month. However, even though it is a very low success rate, it is super important to keep these resolutions.
New Year’s resolutions are super important to make and keep. Making resolutions can provide clarity for goals you want to achieve. It causes you to think about what you want to accomplish both short-term and long-term. It gives you a little more motivation if you write down your resolutions and make them clear. Writing them down can give you a reminder about them and can cause you to want to complete them even more. Resolutions can also provide a fresh start. This can be helpful if you had a bad year or if you just didn’t love what you were doing last year. Finally, resolutions can make you feel good. Completing a goal/resolution is one of the most satisfying things you can do. It makes you feel accomplished, and it allows you to see how far you have grown since you made the goal. Sticking with your goal long enough to complete it also shows how you have bettered your life and how dedicated you are to making yourself better by completing your goals.
Finally, let’s talk about why they are so hard to keep and how to overcome these obstacles. Most of the time, it is because you don't have a structure in place to keep you motivated and self-critical. In order to counteract these obstacles, you will need to build a good support system by getting help from loved ones and friends. You could create a reward system for yourself to keep you motivated. Keep in mind though that you need compassion for yourself, because not everyone is perfect. Thinking that you need to be perfect is another common way people get deterred from keeping their resolutions.
- McKenna Adams
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