Down with the Resolution!
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
–Aristotle
When we think of the New Year, it’s likely there are a few things that come to everyone’s mind: kissing a loved one, toasting the days to come, and those pesky resolutions. While self improvement and creating good habits are good things, if you’re finding your resolutions just don’t seem to stick, there may be a perfectly logical explanation.
According to Amy Morin, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist, “...most resolutions fail not from a lack of willpower. They fail because people shouldn't have started them on January 1st.” Researchers at Scranton University found that a staggering 77% of people couldn’t maintain their New Year resolutions beyond the first week. Additionally, a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology found it can take individuals anywhere from 18 to 254 days to build a habit. That doesn’t bode well for those resolutions that only survive the first week of the new year. The problem, it seems, is that individuals are attempting life changes based on societally imposed obligations. It isn’t that resolutions themselves are an inherently bad idea, we just need to understand a little more about the process of creating habits to ensure the changes last.
If you want to make a change, start by writing it down, and be specific. You’re 42% more likely to succeed if you write down your goals. Next, come up with a routine. In order to develop a habit –something that is easily repeatable and happens with little to no thought – you’ll want to establish a process which makes the new habit you’re trying to develop easy to keep up. Consider if there may be scheduling changes you can make, like waking up earlier to make sure you meet a goal, or getting enough sleep so you have energy. Additionally, if there are items you need to meet the goal, make them easily accessible. Strategies like leaving your workout clothes out the night before a gym day make it easier to overcome the initial resistance to getting started and help you move towards your goal without having to think about it.
Lastly, and arguably the most important part, gauge your readiness. Change can be difficult, and it’s easy to confuse the desire to change with readiness. You might want to stop smoking, but when push comes to shove, you might not be totally ready, especially if your goal feels overwhelming like quitting your pack-a-day habit cold turkey. Instead, try setting small attainable goals to help you stay on track and develop a sense of accomplishment. Change doesn’t have to happen all at once. Maybe your goal will be to reduce the amount you smoke from a full pack, to just one less cigarette per day. Overtime, you might decrease that by one less cigarette per week until you’re down to just one cigarette a day and before you know it, you’ve quit altogether.
The bottom line is to be patient with yourself, don’t be afraid to take baby steps and begin when you’re ready. If you falter or think you’ve failed, not only is tomorrow a new day, but each moment is a new opportunity to get back up and try again. We’re rooting for you!
Resources
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1Morin, A. (2019), This Is Why Most New Year's Resolutions Fail. Psychology Today, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201912/is-why-most-new-years-resolutions-fail
2Norcross JC, Vangarelli DJ. The resolution solution: longitudinal examination of New Year's change attempts. J Subst Abuse. 1988-1989;1(2):127-34. doi: 10.1016/s0899-3289(88)80016-6. PMID: 2980864.
3Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C.H.M., Potts, H.W.W. and Wardle, J. (2010), How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 40: 998-1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674
4Gardner, Sarah and Albee, Dave, "Study focuses on strategies for achieving goals, resolutions" (2015). Press Releases. 266. https://scholar.dominican.edu/news-releases/266
