New Years Resolutions Are For Losers

Ken, your success with new years resolutions is atypical. I have read multiple places that between 75% to 95% of all people fail to keep up with their resolutions. My point was simply that there is a good reason for this: most people capable of keeping up with a resolution would have already started making the change in their lives before the new year. In other words, it's a ploy, a trick, an illusion -- that's why they tend not to work for most people.

Another example would be someone who orders a workout machine or gets a gym membership and then proceeds to never use it. They get it because they think it'll give them the strength to work out, but if they had that strength they would already be healthy. I know this because I'm one of those people. And it's the same with resolutions; it's based on thinking the new year will somehow grant strength that wasn't there before, but that strength is usually short-lived.

The fact that new years resolutions work for you is great, though. I do agree the word loser is a bit harsh (I was being hard on myself for falling into this trap in the past). I think weakness would have been a better term. I'm trying to be exciting with my language; I'm just not doing such a good job. :)

Cheers,

I think you are making a generalization. The reason people make new years resolutions is because it is measurable. "I started this last new year and I succeeded or failed." All of my big life changes happened from new year resolutions. This was just a point where I could set a goal for where I wanted to be next year at the same time. So am I a loser because I always make them and have about a 95% rate in meeting them? I do not think so. I also would encourage people to make them and try to reach there goals. I think that is a much more productive approach then bashing those that make them as losers.

Why is it that my comment always kills the thread?

I've made the same resolution for the past 4 years (and kept it all but one): Drive more safely, and not get any tickets during the year.

I think the reason I call it a new years resolution is because it has the statement "during the year" in it, and January 1st seems like a good enough date to call the beginning of the year. I actually made the decision to stop driving like a lunatic some time before New Year's 2003/4, and that date seemed like a good time to make it "official" as it were. I think it's because I'd never made a NY resolution, and on New Year's eve everyone was asking me what my resolution would be.

Making a resolution at the beginning of the new year is like being nice to people on Christmas. Why not do it the rest of the year, too?

Well I think that anything one is making a resolution for has been tried multiple times -- all meeting with failure. The idea is an illusion -- that the *one thing you need* is to start for the new year -- then it will work. That's just not reality.

Perhaps if a number of things were tried at the same time -- especially if one or more of those things addressed the cause of the weakness -- then I could see the new years bit actually helping out in a symbolic way.

But to have failed multiple times in the past, make no additional changes, and then think that making the exact same attempt again (but this time for the new year) is going to make a difference is simply an exercise in fantasy.

That's what I've seen anyway. I think it's far more effective to go after the core problems than to repeatedly bash your head into the wall of your own weakness.

Most people DO need an event to awaken them. A magical date on the calendar of January 1st seems to be the big day.

So the theory behind New Years Resolutions is intended to be a positive one.

Most people set out with the right intentions.

I hear people laugh and say "Resolutions Don't Work" when the reality is it's the "Resolution Maker." It's easier to place the responsibility outside of themselves.

A resolution is a decision. It's simply a first step.

Then comes the part where the Resolution Maker is supposed to be taking actions, which is where most people fall short.

There are two main reasons a person doesn't achieve their Resolutions.

1) The are not committed (they quit at the first setback)

2) The don't have a plan (they don't know what to do)

There are strategies that work, if the Resolution Maker will learn basic Goal Setting strategies and take consistent, persistent action and approach it with a firm commitment.

There are solutions and anyone can make 2007 their best year ever.

Happy New Year!

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig
Author, Coach, Motivational Speaker

http://www.GoalGuru.com

What about using the resolution to give you the encourage meant that you have not had in the past? Do you feel that is a viable option? That is why people make New Years Resolutions.