This concludes our series on New Year’s Resolutions. We have previously discussed reviewing our successes and making real goals, action plans and steps to put ourselves in motion toward making our goals a reality. This week, a bit of fun with an essay on “Why I Hate Worthless New Year’s Resolutions.”
“Happy New Year. Don’t forget to make some resolutions you’ll never keep and put up a new wall calendar you’ll never look at.” Unknown
Why I Hate Worthless New Year’s Resolutions
There it is in a nutshell: Most New Year’s resolutions are just worthless.
Statistics vary on the topic but somewhere around three-four weeks into the New Year, 40-60% of us are sticking with our resolutions. Then, by the end of February, 80% of us have given up. Finally, by the end of the year only 8% say they kept their resolution (and I think it’s closer to 5%. People lie.)
I’m not saying they fail, because I hate that word too. Nothing is a failure if you learn something. Instead of a failure, it’s a lesson. So what is the lesson here? Resolutions on New Year’s don’t work. But, these resolutions are a good thing if you happen to be a journalist, a blogger, or “an influencer.”
One magazine I picked up was entirely devoted to “New Year, New You.” Do this, do that. Eat this, don’t eat that. Feng Shui out, Minimalist in. (Heavens! I haven’t done either. I’m waiting for collectors corner and every shelf filled to come into style.) The point is that what you see out there is just lots of “what to do.” Not much about “how to succeed” (except one article on how to lose 10 pounds by New Years. It was too depressing to read.)
Why I Hate New Year’s Resolution Advice Articles
Why don’t our resolutions work? Well, there is not much good “how to” advice. I looked at 53 on-line articles on New Year’s resolutions. I found all of these headlines:
- 65 Rewarding Resolutions
- Top Three Resolutions You Should Make
- Top Five Resolutions (Three different articles, none of the resolutions the same.)
- 56 Resolutions You Can Start Today
- 40 Achievable Resolutions That Will Make You Better In 2023.
- Focus on Only One Resolution. (Oh not 40 or 56 or 65. *#*^#)
- The One Resolution You Should Make.
- The One Resolution You Should Not Make. (Remarkably similar to the previous article.)
- Start 2023 Right! (Some of these ideas were: “take care of you, get a pen pal, friend dates, get a hobby, exercise, travel, and eat right.” Yes mom, ok. I wish they would just pay me to write this stuff.)
There were a very few on “how.” Life hack.org actually mentioned procrastination, meditation and planning. Goskills.com talked about planning and smart goals. So, while there were a few articles on “how,” weeding through the detritus was exhausting.
Furthermore, most of the articles were not just worthless, they were harmful in my opinion. The articles set us up to fail! If we start with unrealistic goals and resolutions, we might feel good as we make them, but aren’t motivated to keep them. Instead, they become a real burden as time goes by. Unreasonable goals are frustrating and depressing. They make us feel like failures. And goals without a plan keep success far beyond our reach.
5 SMART Reasons Why I Hate New Year’s Resolutions
I hate most New Year’s resolutions because they aren’t SMART:
- They aren’t SPECIFIC
- They are rarely MEASURABLE
- They aren’t safely, practically ACHIEVABLE
- Even if they are RELEVANT to you they are often not REALISTIC. Many don’t fit into your lifestyle, or abilities. (Can you really afford a gym, or all organic food. Can you really take a 20-minute run before breakfast )
- They are not realistically TIME-BOUND. (It’s not healthy to lose 40 pounds in 40 days.)
Moreover, they lack flexibility and encouragement. They lack the plans with action steps so we can cheer on our small wins. Most lack the pickup after a slip. They include no clear plan, a path between what we want and what we can do. Many provide for no reflection to see what works and no reward celebration for progress. Lastly and most importantly, they fail to build-in the ability to adjust what is not working, thus providing opportunities to succeed instead of quitting.
Don’t be lured into a resolution that preordains failure. Instead, try this. Make a resolution but give it some help. “A dream (or a resolution) written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action (steps) makes your dreams reality. “ – Greg Reid
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