Why do 1 fail to achieve new year’s resolutions?

Why do most of us fail to achieve new year’s resolutions?

 

Are you making a resolution in the new year? 

Warning: More than half of all resolutions fail. According to U.S news, 80% of the people give up on their new year’s resolutions by the second week in February. This is a sad statistic.  That means most of us only stay committed for a month and a half. 

 

I used to make new year’s resolutions, and get excited about implementing the changes, only to find my enthusiasm and effort slowly but surely wane as time went by. Like most people who make new year’s resolutions, I would abandon the resolution by February and revert to my old habits. 

 

The fact is that only 10% of the people who make the new year’s resolutions successfully implement it lasting change. But the other 90% fail. However, this failure can be very discouraging, disheartening as well demoralizing. It often undermines future efforts to change our lives for the better. It often leads most of us to believe that we do not possess the necessary willpower to overcome bad habits. 

 

Why do most people fail at keeping their resolutions? The reason is most new year’s resolutions are flawed, to begin with. Another reason could be they are not the right resolutions.

 

Here are some reasons why most people fail to achieve new year’s resolutions because:

 

• New year’s resolutions have procrastination built into them

 

Most of us have this stereotype that change or resolutions need to be implemented and followed when a new year arrives. After all, setting a particular date such as January 1st to implement changes implies that we will only begin to make changes once the date arrives rather than doing it now. But as we can see there is no logic in that. We often treat the new year as if it holds some magical powers that will facilitate and expedite the changes we want to make, and it is obviously clear that it’s not true. However, the fact is there is nothing special or unique about January 1st other than, perhaps the biggest hangover day of the year for the most. Likewise, the euphoria of a new year will wear out fast and most people lose their motivation once this happens. So, it’s important to keep in mind that changes start to happen when people take action and implement it, and the best time to take action is now and not on some glorified date on the calendar. 

 

• Another reason why most new year’s resolutions do not work is because people fail to have a realistic plan and goal for achieving their resolutions and consequently, they set unrealistic goals

 

For example, the most common new year’s resolutions are to lose weight, exercise, run a marathon, stop smoking, become vegan or eat more healthfully and be less stressed. However, these goals are respectable but unrealistic because they have been broken down into smaller, more achievable, and daunting goals. In simple words, these are achievable goals yet many of us can’t follow through because we don’t take an approach that’s rooted in reality. As a result, they overwhelm the people setting the goals and that leads to frustration and ultimately failure. 

Usually, this happens despite good intentions. So, keep in mind small successes always leads to big successes. 

 

• A new year’s resolution is nothing new than a goal that someone sets for himself or herself

 

It’s great to set goals but they are ineffective and futile unless accompanied by a strategy or system to ensure success and achievement. When someone successfully attains and accomplish a large goal, it is because they had a strategy and set smaller goals that contributed to the overall picture. To understand this better, here are some examples:

 

1. If we set a goal of completing a marathon, it needs to be supported by a strategy that is running a mile each day for a week. 

 

2. If you want to lose 100 pounds, so it is important to break down your goals into mini-goals, for example cutting refined sugar from your diet, exercising for 15 minutes each day, and losing 1 pound per week. 

 

3. If you want to eat healthier and become vegan. Ask yourself the following question- which goal is more achievable? Completely eradicating animal products from your diet or eating meat only twice a week. The answer is obvious, start by eating meat only twice a week and then reducing the amount after you get used to it. This will help you accomplish your goal.  

 

You should also keep in mind that choosing realistic goals or resolutions and achieving them improves our mindset. 

 

Lastly, our goals are the destination. The strategy is the map that ensures we get there. 

 

Your goals should be smart and SMART. That’s an acronym coined in the journal Management Review in 1981 for specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable and time-bound. It may work for management, but it can work in setting your resolutions too.

 

So, keep in mind goals also need to be specific and measurable to be effective. 

 

• A lot of resolutions failed because most people are too vague about their goals, and they don’t plan properly

 

Most of the people are uncertain or unclear on how to achieve and accomplish their goals because they don’t have a proper plan to follow. Would you ever take a road trip you’ve never gone before without looking at a map or GPS? Of course, you wouldn’t. So how can you achieve your resolutions without a plan? 

 

Here are some examples: 

 

1. Your generic goal may be to lose weight rather than lose 1 pound per week for 20 weeks. However, there are lots of things you can do to lose weight, but you need to decide what will realistically work for your lifestyle before you do anything else. 

 

2. Your goal is to eat healthier rather than be specific and state that you will stop eating fast food and eat vegetarian food for 5 days each week. 

 

So, make your plan as specific as possible and follow-through, but don’t forget to write it down. Also being specific in our goal-setting is essential to success because it allows us to monitor our progress and make adjustments. 

 

The last reason why people fail to attain their new year’s resolution goals is because they set too many

 

It is recommended to focus on 1 or 2 goals at the same time because then only it can be effective. It might be tempting to try and accomplish more, but what is the point if we spread ourselves too thin, exhaust our resources and, ultimately, fail? I believe that it is best to do one or two things and to do it well. Once we succeed in making lasting changes in one or two facets of our lives, we can then move on to something else.

 

To summarize, if we are serious about changing our lives for the better, it is best to follow these guidelines: 

 

So, here are some tips on how to make ( and keep) a new year’s resolution.

 

• Do not wait for new year’s day to come around. Start now because there is no better or perfect time to start than this present moment. 

• Make your goals realistic and break them into smaller, mini-goals so it is easy to attain and accomplish. 

• Have a strategy or system. Your willpower is fleeting by nature, so it is the daily system that makes your larger goals attainable. Thus make it automatic, so that even when you do not feel like doing it, you do it anyway because it is automatic. 

• Make your goals specific and measurable. Be as specific as possible and also include a deadline too. So, instead of saying you want to lose weight, it is better to lose 1 pound each week for 20 weeks.

• Do not set many goals at once. It is recommended to pick 1 or 2 goals that are most important to you and focus on them. Of course, there is nothing more motivating and powerful than witnessing your own progress.

  

In conclusion, all of us work in progress and implementing change in our lives is not something we should do once in a year. So, we can and should make changes and improvements throughout our lives and throughout the year. 

 

SOURCE: 

 

http://www.skilledatlife.com/dont-make-new-years-resolutions-do-this-instead/