Each time Jan. 1 hits, people all over the world make plans to improve themselves as friends, family members and students in hopes of making their new year better than the last. January is a month of striving for self-improvement. Some succeed, while others struggle to hold themselves true to their goals.
I’m probably the reason people think New Year’s resolutions don’t work. The past few years I’ve told myself to be nicer, work harder and be more organized in an attempt to better myself. But my resolutions were never strict enough for me to notice a difference in my actions.
According to Chrissy Scivicque, contributor to Forbes.com, it’s near impossible to carry out a resolution without a structured plan. Without structure, a goal is just a wish, which is hard to measure and even harder to accomplish.
Despite the common attitude that resolutions are useless because they’re rarely carried out, people still try yearly to reach their goals—even if they think they will fail.
I went to an exercise class at my gym I had never gone to before a few nights ago and found I could barely fit in the room with all the other members attending. After I heard the instructor make a comment about how crowded the class was, a woman replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll all be gone in a couple weeks.”
Although the woman in my exercise class might have been right in assuming many people fail when attempting a New Year’s resolution, the number of people who succeed overshadow those who don’t. According to USA Today, 75 percent of resolution-makers will still be successful midway through January, 50 percent will carry on at the end of the month and about 45 percent will maintain success after six months.
Sure, maybe 55 percent dropped out halfway through the year, but this shouldn’t stop someone from making any resolution. Making one goal at the beginning of the year is better than making none at all.
John C. Norcross, psychologist at the University of Scranton, conducted a study in 2002 tracking peoples’ success for six months after New Year’s Day.
From his studies, Norcross found plenty of people who make New Year’s resolutions succeed, despite the doubts of many Americans. He said people are 10 times more likely to change by making a New Year’s resolution compared to those who don’t, with identical goals and comparable motivation to change.
We’ve all seen our friends, family members and sometimes even ourselves fail when trying to become better people for the upcoming year. Many think of New Year’s resolutions as a joke because of how many end with failure, but maybe that’s not right. Maybe those who fail are those who don’t try at all.
