New Year’s Resolutions: Do They Work, and Should You Make Them

The new year is quickly approaching, which in turn means that many of us will start thinking about our New Year’s resolutions. Indeed, about 50% of the population makes some kind of resolution for the new year. Time after time, researchers have found that the majority of these resolutions fail.

Still, we think that one shouldn’t be too negative about New Year’s resolutions. What would the alternative be? Not aspiring to change oneself for the better? The issue isn’t so much the resolutions themselves, as it is the follow-through. And that, like many other things in life, can be tweaked to increase your chances of success.

Here are some tips for increasing your chances of succeeding at your New Year’s resolution:

1. Make one resolution, not many. Habits are hard to change, and they’re most effectively changed one at a time. Your chances of success increase if you stick to just one resolution at a time until the new pattern of behavior becomes a habit, before attempting to implement another resolution.
2. Be specific. It’s very hard to succeed at a goal that’s not clearly outlined. “Losing weight” or “having more fun” are much harder to visualize than “losing 1 pound a month” or “doing one fun thing per week”. The latter will help you have a metric for success which you can actively aspire to meet.
3. Do it with a friend. Having a support network is key. Ideally, you’ll have someone to do that activity with, but barring that, even having someone to check in with every once in awhile can be helpful in terms of holding yourself accountable.
4. Start slow, then ramp up. Far too many resolutions start off very strong in January, then fall apart in February when people get burnt out. It’s actually much better to start off slow, then ramp up at a pace that allows you to stick with your goals.
5. Celebrate your successes. Notice we didn’t say “success”. To keep yourself motivated, it’s important to acknowledge your partial success and reward yourself along the way. To use the example above, for every month you successfully lose a pound, you should reward yourself with something you love. This will serve as further motivation to keep striving.

So, by all means, do not be deterred from making a New Year’s resolution. In a way, making a resolution proves that you’re an optimist—you’re always looking for a way to improve yourself, and you believe you can make it happen. That’s much better than resigning yourself to staying the same because you don’t think you’re capable of changing your life.

If you follow the steps above, you’ll have a fair shot to succeed at executing your New Year’s resolution. And, if for some reason you don’t succeed, start over and try again. Life is about the journey anyway, not necessarily the destination.