With each turn of the calendar year, hundreds of people begin making lists of New Year’s resolutions. These goals often vary among different ways to try and change or be better — with the most common ones being getting healthier, losing weight, quitting smoking, drinking less or working out more. Each January, the lines at the gym get longer, there are more visitors at the salad bar and people try to spend more time with friends and family.
But, U.S. News & World Report reports that 80 percent of people break their New Year’s resolutions. The new year may bring a sense of optimism to many, but this hope and motivation for change seems to dwindle as the months go on. Come February and March, it seems many of us forget the promises we made for ourselves in the hype of the New Year, and we go back to whatever habits we were trying to change.
Taking the time to reflect on ways we can improve is important for personal growth, and the new year is a perfect time for that. But, in order to keep this growth and momentum going for the rest of the year, it is iportant to contine making resolutions year-round.
Making goals and resolutions for ourselves can help us grow, and it’s important we take this time to critically reflect on the ways we can evolve as people. Resolutions shouldn’t just be made in January — to then be neglected and forgotten after a few weeks — but year-round. Each month, try to make a new goal or resolution for yourself. By making goals for yourself year-round, you can keep up with the motivation of the new year, allowing yourself to be more productive and effective throughout the year.
When making resolutions, we should also be deeply reflecting on how we can make these changes last. If you have a large goal in the beginning of the year for yourself, try breaking it down into smaller goals you can try to accomplish each month.
The concept of New Year’s resolutions is a positive one, but the ways in which Americans go about it are unfortunately ineffective. In order to take full advantage of the new year’s motivation, we should try to update our resolutions each month to better accomplish our goals. Working to better yourself or achieve your goals is almost always positive, and this practice shouldn’t just be in focus in the month of January.