Making New Year’s Resolutions Stick

It is officially 2016 and the game of New Year’s Resolutions has already begun.  The idea of indulging in a New Year’s resolution is about making a fresh start.  It is about self improvement and the notion that aspects about a person’s life can be different or better in the future. According to the Static Brain Institute, over 45 percent of people make New Year’s resolutions each year. People set goals about health, money, relationships and education.  Unfortunately only eight percent of people actually reach their goals by the end of the year. What many question is why there is this lack of goal completion.  Is it that people are lazy and have no hope for a better future?  I don’t think so.  It has more to do with the kinds of resolutions we make and about maintaining motivation.  

New Year’s resolutions are just goals with a fancy name and a deadline.  When we get close to a new year we think about all the things we want changed.  We get hopeful and, while that is a good thing, we can get confused about the difference between goals and wishes.  A wish is a feeling or a strong desire for something that is not easily attainable or to want something that cannot, or probably will not, happen. A goal is a lot like a wish. It still has the desire and are sometimes not easily attained, but the difference is that goals have plans, intentions, and a purpose.  The reason why only eight percent of New Year’s resolutions are completed is that only those eight percent are set with attainable goals and have steps to complete those goals.  It is much easier to complete a large goal in steps.  Completing smaller pieces of goal and tracking your progress is a good way to stay motivated.  Maybe the reason New Year’s resolutions don’t stick is because we are treating them more like wishes and less like goals.