The tradition of making New Year’s resolutions has carried on for thousands of years since the ancient Babylonians. The idea seems pretty great at first: taking advantage of the new year to become a new person. However, over the years, the flaws with this tradition have become more obvious.
According to the article New Year’s Resolutions Statistics and Trends [2024], 92% of adults don’t follow through on their resolutions, that is, even if they do make resolutions. Only three out of ten Americans made a resolution in 2024, most of them young adults. People have stopped making the effort to write resolutions, especially as they get older. The excitement of a new resolution doesn’t last long after January, so it gets hard to stick to them.
The tradition also limits resolutions to the New Year when there’s no rules or deadlines for change. “I don’t see the point of resolutions. You can make a resolution today,” junior Dylan Chen Zhen said. The effort to improve one’s self shouldn’t be limited to just the new year.
Additionally, the tradition of making resolutions pressures people to think big about their goals which lead to inevitable failure. People’s resolutions are often too vague or too drastically different from their day-to-day life. According to the article The Psychology Behind Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail, Jennifer Kowalski, a licensed professional counselor, said that the reason why resolutions fail is because “they make it unattainable by not setting smaller, more immediate goals.”
What can be done to improve this tradition if it’s worth keeping at all? Well, if it’s hard to make small immediate goals, try pivoting to as broad as possible. YouTuber CGP Grey has a suggestion: try out a general “year of _____” and make decisions throughout the whole year based on that general word. Give your year a theme. For example, “year of reading” or “year of health.” Change is most effective in small steps towards a general direction. Having a theme “[reminds] you to be a little different in little moments sometimes.” CGP Grey said.
New Year’s resolutions have failed us. They’ve created the mindset that change only occurs in the new year, yet improvement is always possible no matter the time. People don’t know how to make specific attainable goals, and most people don’t even bother making them. Instead of a big, pressured promise to change right after the new year, we should strive for small, gradual improvements to whom we were yesterday.
Some people set more than one resolution each year. According to the article New Year’s Resolutions Statistics and Trends [2024], 79% of all New Year’s resolutions are related to improving health, 6% are to travel more, and over 50% are about learning a new hobby. (Photo/Christina Elem)
