Do New Year’s Resolutions Work?
Are you keen on setting New Year’s resolutions? According to a Forbes poll, approximately 44% of U.S. adults planned on setting a resolution in 2020. The top five most common resolutions were:
Improve mental health
Improve physical health
Lose weight
Improve diet
Improve finances
Do those resolutions sound familiar to you? Have you set similar goals in your life on January 1sts of the past?
The same survey mentioned above took note of how long these resolutions tended to last into the year. According to their research, 11% lasted less than one month, 19% lasted just one month, and 14% lasted three months.
It’s not that we’re all lazy quitters. Those are harsh words I would not want anyone to use on themselves.
Take a look at the top five most common resolutions again. They are large, sweeping changes written in very vague language. “Improve diet…” okay, how? And why? Have we figured out any of the smaller steps to get to the resolution itself? When we declare major, broad lifestyle changes with no idea how to back them up, we set ourselves up for failure.
Perhaps a more realistic mini-goal to start “improving diet” would be “research nutritionists to work with” or “attend one intuitive eating workshop this month,” and the mini-goals can progress from there now that we are armed with more information.
Also important to consider is why we want to make that behavior change in the first place. If you want to improve your diet because you think you should, that may not last. But if you want to improve your diet to target something specific, like lowering cholesterol, that is meaningful and purposeful to you and is more likely to last.
Consider the SMART goal formula. A SMART goal is:
Specific: Instead of “improve diet,” a specific goal would state “lower cholesterol by 20 points.”
Measurable: Is there a scale on which we can monitor the change? In this case, a blood test can monitor cholesterol levels.
Achievable: Reality check time. Is this goal something you can realistically do? Is lowering cholesterol something one human being can accomplish through diet, exercise, medication, and education? I believe yes.
Relevant: Why is this goal meaningful to you? Perhaps you want to lower your risk of heart attack or stroke, or avoid going on a new prescription. What is the bigger picture?
Time-Bound: How long do you want to give yourself to accomplish this goal? Perhaps at your next annual physical you want to see improved blood work results.
How will this impact your view of New Year’s resolutions?
