Written by Lauren James Budhu
Lose weight. Eat better. Hone a new skill or passion. Limit screen time. Maybe drink more water.
Every January, we set New Year’s resolutions to help us become better people in the new year. These promises to ourselves are made with the best of intentions. Yet unfortunately, many of these resolutions fall flat and don’t make it past winter. So, how do we set New Year’s goals and stick to them? The key is to commit yourself to your resolutions and learn from your mistakes. You can do it!
The practice of setting New Year’s resolutions didn’t just start a few years back– try thousands of years back. History.com writer Sarah Pruitt said that ancient Babylonians are the first ones to have made New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. During a 12-day religious festival, Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king, she said. They made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return anything they had borrowed. If the Babylonians kept to their word, their gods would favor them in the new year. If not, they would fall out of the gods’ favor, according to History.com.
Despite the tradition’s religious roots, resolutions are mostly a secular practice nowadays. Instead of making promises to gods, people typically make promises to themselves for self-improvement in the new year. Maybe that’s why most people fail to follow through on their resolutions. In fact, according to recent studies, almost half of the American population will make resolutions with only 8% actually successful in fulfilling their goals. Yet that low record will probably not stop people from making goals at the start of every year. After all, the tradition has been in practice for more than 4,000 years.
With 2023 here, there are some tips for both making your resolutions and keeping them from Harvard Medical School:
● Dream big! Want to run a marathon or triathlon? Lose 50 pounds? With a little perseverance and support from your friends and family, you can achieve your goals.
● Break these big dreams into small steps. Completing smaller steps propel you to finish your ultimate goal. Make a list with easy jobs first. Being able to check off your top line items will give you the motivation to keep going. There is something about finishing a to-do list that feels so good.
● Commit yourself. Hold yourself accountable through written or verbal affirmations. This will help you through the tough spots with your journey. Create a Facebook page devoted to your goals and detail your steps. Or make it a less public promise to your partner, friend, coworker or friend. Whatever you do, make yourself accountable.
● Learn from the past. Any time you fail to make a change or don’t complete a task, consider it a step in the right direction. When you hit a bump in the road, consider what worked and what didn’t. Maybe you took on too big a challenge? Maybe take a step and make a less ambitious goal or break the goal into even tinier steps.
● Give yourself thanks. Forgetting perfecting every step. Set your sights on finishing that marathon, not reaching for a personal best the first time around. Even if you complete it, you’re still a winner even if you end up walking some. Be proud of yourself for what you have accomplished! Maybe you wouldn’t have done this last year, but you took the necessary strides to get the goal completed this time around.
Making a change and setting big goals can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. Get the Special Health Report, Simple Changes, Big Rewards: A practical, easy guide for healthy, happy living to learn how to incorporate simple changes into your life that can reap big rewards. Happy New Year!
