Statistics show that only about 25% of people who set New Year’s resolutions stick to those resolutions. Even more shocking is the fact that of the 25%, only about 8% achieve those resolutions they set for themselves at the beginning of the year.
So, why join the trend when it may not prove useful in the first place? Are there alternatives to New Year’s resolutions?
Two of the main reasons people are unable to keep their resolutions are because they often create unrealistic goals and timelines about how the year will evolve. Rather than set a New Year’s resolution, here’s what you can do instead.
- Set goals- In their nature, resolutions can be vague and nonspecific. Goals, on the other hand, are more direct. Set specific targets and how you directly intend to accomplish those targets.
- Don’t set resolutions at all- How about you don’t set resolutions at all? How about you head into the New Year with no hard feelings about things that didn’t go as planned in the previous year? How about entering the New Year looking at the last year with no regret (no matter how hard this is to do)? This could be your approach, especially if you’re someone who set resolutions in the past and didn’t accomplish them. Why not try a different approach?
- Affirmations- The idea behind setting resolutions is to get the year rolling on a positive note while you set guidelines on how your year will go. Why not write up affirmations that you can dictate to yourself all year long? Maintaining positive energy means you get to attract positivity because that is what you radiate.
Resolutions are fantastic, no doubt, but given their tendencies to be hyped up in January and taper off as the year progresses, it might be time to take a new approach for 2020.