Coming up to New Year’s Eve, many people are starting to create their 2022 resolutions as we roll into the final weeks of December 2021. New Year’s Resolutions are a major tradition that many people around the world participate in. It is a compound list of goals to be achieved in the coming 365 days.
What are New Year’s Resolutions?
New Year’s Resolutions are the annual tradition of writing goals to achieve in the coming 12 months. It has been found that an average 83% of Australians created New Year’s Resolutions for 2021. Although many people create New Year’s Resolutions, only 9% of people successfully complete their resolutions.
New Year’s Resolutions have been around for 4000 years, dating back to the Babylonians as well as the ancient Egyptians. It started with making promises to the gods which has now manifested into personal goals.Some people take their resolutions extremely seriously and have a plan to execute it perfectly, whereas some people are more relaxed with theirs. One Twitter user said their New Year’s Resolution is “for my brother to break up with his gf bc I hate her so much.”
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions?
This tradition is so popular in the United States that the US government has a website page dedicated towards healthier goals and how to achieve them including drinking less alcohol and managing debt.
New Year’s Resolutions help people believe that they are turning over a new leaf in the coming 12 months and believe it’s the best time to make life changes. A list of handwritten goals can make people feel more accountable as well if the changes are making a positive impact.
New Year’s Resolutions are also heavily pushed in Western culture which could be another reason why people make them. New year’s resolutions are a fun little thing to do with friends and family at Christmas.
Why do people break New Year’s Resolutions?
It has been found that many people are not driven enough to maintain their goals for the long haul. A big way to change this and make them stick is to share your goals with other people and help others achieve their goals. This open communication will hold you more accountable for both you and others goals, like a verbal contract. Professor of Psychology, Joe Ferrari said “when you keep resolutions a secret no one is going to check up on you”.
The easiest way to maintain New Year’s resolutions is to keep them very specific and only make an important few. Setting specific goals with end dates that are also manageable will help obtain the goal. Tr-acking progress and sit in progress golf will also help keep him motivated until the end it has also been found that many people jump in too much change too fast and this can be overwhelming on both their mental and physical health. Room for error and mistakes sometimes is needed as it can be a process of taking two steps forward one step back until progress is made.
Most Common New Year’s Resolutions
The most common years resolutions are in relation to health financial stability in education the top 10 years resolutions are
- Exercise more
- Lose weight
- Get organised
- Get a new hobby
- Live life to the fullest
- Save money/stop spending as much money
- Quit smoking
- Spend more time with family
- Travel more
- Read more
These goals are extremely common worldwide but 90% of people who wish for these goals don’t end up being able to achieve them.
Weirdest New Year’s Resolutions
Resolutions even though there are some very common years resolutions there are also some unusual goals people set some of these include
- Break a record
- Do something nice for others every day
- Rule the world
- Eat more meat
- Don’t put things off
- Learn a party trick
- Start a new tradition
- Celebrate the little things
- Wash hands more
- Stop procrastinating
Unusual resolutions are often laced with cultural foundations and can be achieved more. Although there are some unattainable goals, like ruling the world, small changes like learning a party trick is an easy resolution that can be done in a day.
