5 reasons why your New Year resolutions will fail in 2019 (and how to avoid that happening)
Well, make a choice!
Promises are to be kept — which adequately explains why New Year resolutions are called ‘resolutions’, not promises.
They are meant to be broken, resolutely.
Emotions like ‘The year just went by in a flash!’ visit us only on the 31st — and it’s not easy to feel at the edge of time. So, to gain a foothold, we resolve with all seriousness.
And then, we fail and how!
Here’s a list of the top 5 New Year resolutions:
Weight loss
Save more
Quit smoking/drinking
Read more
Digital detox (not checking FB/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat every five minutes)
Here’s an ‘unscientific’ chronicle of why we fail:
1. ‘Intoxicated’ wishes
No, not talking about the liquor served at New Year parties.
This is the intoxication of a new year knocking on the door which makes us happy and crazy — which is why we rush to Goa, burst crackers and all that jazz. Deep down somewhere, we must believe that something magical will happen from tomorrow and I will just miraculously wake up in the morning, go for a jog, make plenty of new friends, won’t stalk people on social media, will refuse all smoke breaks in work, and will go to sleep before 12 AM.
If only wishes had wings…
Well, it doesn’t really work that way. Are we actually ready to make an extra effort to see that change happen? We don’t think so much on the 31st.
2. Goals are not specific
Restraining ourselves from buying something that really catches our eye on January 2 will not be counted as a stride towards saving money.
It’s a praiseworthy move, true.
But resolutions like weight loss (how body-shaming is that!), saving more, etc., are quite vast. We may break them up into short segments, and set shorter goals like 'I want to lose 3kg in six months', or, 'I won't smoke more than two cigarettes in a day for at least one month', etc.
3. Whose resolutions are these anyway?
Resolutions must be realistic if we want to stick to them. We can't just copy what others are doing.
Like, if our job revolves around social media, we can’t take a resolution to reduce the time we spend in front of a computer or checking our phones. If I know I won't be able to find time for a hobby class or something like that, then why force myself to join a class just because it looks and sounds cool!
4. Is there any reward at the end?
No, this is not a race. There is no finish line and there's no reward. So naturally, we lose motivation and leave mid-way. You can reward yourself if you are serious about making history — but that reward can't be one puff of smoke from someone else's fag after observing a non-smoking week.
5. There is no success story
Does anyone at all know how it feels to have succeeded in keeping a New Year resolution throughout a year? To what extent can one tamper with the resolution and still salvage the ship from sinking?
We don't know.
What we know is that there have been studies on people who make New Year resolutions. According to one study, carried out by the Department of Psychology at the University of Scranton, people who make New Year resolutions are 10 times more likely to change their lives for the better after six months than those who just aspired to do better but didn't make a formal resolution.
Well, make a choice! Go on, make a resolution already!