New Year's Resolutions

I'm not a big believer in making resolutions at New Year. In my opinion, making a resolution at New Year just doesn't work.

To understand why, you have to understand why you are making the resolution in the first place. Most people get to New Year and then think "Oh, its New Year! I need to make a resolution. It also has to be something good. Now, lets see, what can I do?". In my experience, the most common resolutions I hear are:

1. I will go on a diet this year;
2. I will do more exercise this year;
3. I will eat more healthy food this year.

The problem with this is that you are making a resolution for the sake of making a resolution. It could be due to peer pressure (everyone else is doing it!) or feeling guilty over stuffing your face during the Xmas period. However, the fact remains that you are making a resolution for the sake of having a resolution.

Another problem with most New Year's resolutions is that people give very wishy washy resolutions (like the ones above). Think about this - your resolution is to go on a diet for a whole year? What happens next year - are you allowed to stuff your face like a pig again or is the diet resolution one that is made every year?

The problem is that when most people make New Year's resolutions, they don't give any real thought to how they are going to achieve that resolution. As any counsellor will tell you, if you set yourself a goal, it has to be specific. For example, instead of saying I will go on a diet this year, you should set yourself a goal of losing 20lbs (depending on your weight obviously!!). You should then set yourself an action plan so that you can actually go about losing those 20lbs.

Under conditions like this, is it any surprise that most New Year's resolutions end up failing?

This isn't to say that New Year's resolutions can't ever work. They can work - if you make the effort in properly setting your targets and milestones and then plan out how to practically achieve those milestones. In other words, treat your New Year's resolution with the respect that you would give to any other lifestyle change.


Anyway, the reason that I'm talking about New Year's resolutions is because a friend of mine has just told me that he has made a resolution to eat more healthy food this year. Ding ding ding - that's number 3 on my list above!! This endeavor is doomed to failure!!


Only joking!
In all seriousness, I wish him all the best in meeting this resolution. In particular, I hope some of my comments above make him realise that if he is serious, he will need more than good intentions. In short, I hope that this will help him in achieving his goal.
I also want him to know that if he doesn't make it, I will publicly name and shame him on this blog.
:p