New Year\u2019s is a great opportunity to reflect on how far we\u2019ve come and where we hope to go next. The trouble is, most of us then proceed to set entirely unrealistic resolutions that we ultimately fail. Here are the most common failed resolutions, and how to approach them instead.
This post was originally published on December 30, 2013.
New Year\u2019s resolutions are tricky. In theory, they\u2019re a great idea, but most of us make too many at once, make them too vague, or just aren\u2019t motivated. This year, do better: find a good resolution , find what steps it takes to get there , and make it easy to achieve.
According to both Statista and Statistic Brain , the single most common New Year\u2019s resolution is to lose weight. It also violates two of the top rules for creating effective resolutions. For starters, \u201closing weight\u201d isn\u2019t very specific. It can be five pounds or fifty. It\u2019s also an admirable goal that actually encompasses a lot of little goals, which can be overwhelming. So, if you want to make it more feasible, try aiming for those instead. For example:
Of course, there are hundreds of small changes you can make that affect your weight. The key is to choose one or two that easy to manage. Once you get the hang of that, you can skip ahead to the last section.
If there\u2019s one resolution that\u2019s ripe for big promises and crushing failure, it\u2019s the vague intent to do \u201cbetter\u201d with your finances. Whether it\u2019s to \u201cspend less money\u201d or a promise to \u201csave more\u201d, here are some more specific goals you should try:
The best part about financial resolutions is that they\u2019re easy to quantify. If you want to improve your finances in the new year, start by picking a number. Whether it\u2019s for the year, the month, or the day, giving yourself a specific amount of money you want to save can help narrow down your resolution to something that\u2019s specific enough to pull off.
At this point, you might be beginning to detect a pattern. Despite being vague and directionless, resolutions like \u201cenjoy life\u201d and \u201cworry less\u201d maintain top-of-the-chart status. Fortunately, they\u2019re not impractical. They just need a bit of direction.
Despite being the third most common resolution last year according to Statista , it\u2019s terribly unspecific. Resolutions in general are aimed at improving yourself, so saying you resolve to \u201cbe a better person\u201d is a bit like saying you \u201cresolve to resolve something.\u201d As we established earlier, specific goals are better. For example, that might include:
If you get right down to it, the cynical truth is that there\u2019s nothing special about New Year\u2019s. We all collectively agree to take a look back at the past and get excited about writing the wrong year on all of our paperwork for the next month. While this is a great excuse to self-assess, the truth is that changing your ways is a year-long process and if you fail your resolution by February, you can try again in March. If you\u2019re going to set some resolutions, come prepared to track your progress.
Title photo by dolphfyn ( Shutterstock ). Photos by Bruce , Chris Potter , Wapster , Howard Lake , Lori Ann.<\/p>\n