For most people our age, New Year’s Eve signals the last day of a myriad of bad habits and New Year’s Day signals the first day of beginning a myriad of good habits. It seems that the beginning of the calendar year is a time for anyone and everyone to go on a diet, drink less, quit smoking or even cut the caffeine. What concerns me is whether these resolutions ever actually work. Norcross and Vangarelli (1989) followed 200 New Year’s “resolutioners” for 2 years after they made their initial resolutions. A whopping 77% of participants kept their resolutions for a whole week; however, after 2 years, this number dwindled down to only 19%1. Regardless of the positive nature of the resolutions, the fact that only 38 people of 200 could actually maintain them long-term shows that New Year’s resolutions are inherently flawed because they don’t account for human nature.
Let’s say that I want to lose 20 pounds and it’s January 1st tomorrow. I’m most likely going to spend New Year’s Eve going out with a bang. On New Year’s Eve, I’ll consume as many sinful desserts and decadent poutines as I can get my hands on. Come New Year’s Day, I’ve “resolved” to be healthy, to lose weight and to exercise but I haven’t realized that I’m no different a person than I was just a day ago. I’ll be quite motivated as the individuals in the Norcross and Vangarelli’s study were to keep my resolution for a week. It’s easy to keep a resolution in the first week of January because it seems that everyone is changing him or herself somehow. About three weeks in when I don’t see changes and temptation comes around, I’m likely to give up on my goal altogether. What is inherently wrong with New Year’s Resolution type goals is that I expected myself to change instantaneously, which is a rare type of change indeed. Instead, if I attempted to develop changes gradually, the types of changes where I plan and track my progress and forgive myself for eating that cookie at a work party, I’m more likely to succeed2. Choosing to change bad behaviours or initiate good ones gradually is an effective and smart that will lead to achieving many realistic goals.
Finally, choosing the correct time to begin the gradual changes towards a goal is also imperative. Megan Garber, a staff writer for The Atlantic, recently authored an article calling for fall resolutions. According to Garber, the autumn season signals the beginning of changes and rebirth; I couldn’t have said it better myself3. Fall is a time for going back to school, starting new jobs and getting busy. Why not get busy on something that’s just for you? Choose a habit that you’ve been meaning to kick or get into and work towards it. Don’t expect any overnight changes but over-month changes; not only will you succeed in accomplishing your goal but also in increasing your self-efficacy as well!