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New Year’s resolutions, everyone knows them, everyone has them or had them at least once. Who does not know it, either you yourself or your friends have once again resolved something for the new year, which they absolutely want to implement. In January, the gyms are once again overcrowded (if lockdown would not be implemented again!) and you have to wait until February until you can finally train normally again. Because there most threw their resolutions already again overboard.
The most typical New Year’s resolutions actually start with just that: to exercise more. Also at the top of the list to stop smoking, eat healthier, be on social media less and spend more time with family. Traveling more and saving money are also very popular resolutions. But why are there even the typical New Year’s resolutions that somehow everyone makes for themselves? Why does everyone strive for the same one for the new year? Is it still the good resolution behind it or simply the habit or the group pressure to make these thoughts at the turn of the year?
How about setting new goals far away from weight loss, smoking and money? A great goal for the new year would be, for example, to live more sustainably and to avoid plastic when shopping by simply using your own bags and sacks.
In this post, we’ll clear up the typical New Year’s resolutions and explain why they almost never work anyway.
When is the right time to strive for and implement new goals?
Setting personal goals and having goals for life is all well and good, but aren’t there other goals than being more athletic and having more money, and why does that always have to happen with a new year? You just put off the idea of changing something until the new year knocks on the door instead of changing something right away. To really change something in your life you don’t need a new year, because that won’t change anything either. The days are still the same, there is just a different number on the date display of the cell phone or in the calendar.
Of course it is good to look for a starting point for change, but then let’s just take today! The first step towards change is the most important and the chances to really follow through with something increase if you start 72 hours after you made a resolution. To wait until New Year’s Eve with your resolutions reduces the chance to really tackle the good resolution in the new year.
Changes do not work from one day to the next anyway. You can start the new year much more relaxed if you don’t already have five resolutions in your head that all have to be fulfilled. If you simply start working directly on your desires and aspirations, you go straight into the new year with progress and can celebrate it right away. The new year often brings enough changes with it, so that you often don’t even have the head for it to actively take care of any New Year’s resolutions.
So why do our New Year’s resolutions often not work?
Most resolutions are formulated negatively and thus have a negative connotation. One restricts oneself and suppresses something that one has otherwise always done. Often, exactly the opposite of what was actually desired happens in the end. Slowly giving up smoking, for example, works much better than saying “That’s it!” from one day to the next. After all, there comes a time at a party or after a stressful day at work when you just can’t resist and fall back into old habits. However, if you slowly break the old habit, the chances are much higher that this will also lead to lasting changes.
In addition, resolutions are rarely formulated as a concrete goal, but rather as an idea or wish. Instead of saying “I want to lose weight,” it’s better to set concrete goals and steps, starting with an exercise plan and perhaps a partner who can motivate you and with whom you can implement your plan together. The right goal should then be, for example, “next month I want to weigh two kilos less”. After fulfilling this goal, the next one will follow and so you can fulfill your desire to lose weight step by step. Setting and achieving goals requires some practice, but with the right goal formulation, anything is possible.
Most people also give up far too quickly with their resolutions. It takes at least 30 days to get used to something and automatically integrate it into everyday life. Perseverance is the key to success. It can help to visualize your goal exactly. Write down your goal or buy a bikini in your desired size that you want to wear on the beach next summer. This way you will associate your goal with something positive and see yourself happy on the beach with your new bikini.
Rethink New Year’s resolutions, don’t ditch them
We don’t want to take away your motivation and badmouth your New Year’s resolutions, but we want to ask you to rethink them. Are they formulated in such a way that you can implement them concretely? Do I really have the interest to change something and to put the goal into practice?
Formulate your resolutions as concretely as possible, find a friend with whom you can share them and start right now with the first step, because it doesn’t take a new year to be happy, it just takes the will to change something. Think about what you really want to change and why. What is behind your resolutions and goals and how can you achieve them? A successful new year can be easier than you think with the right motivation to achieve goals. You have to find your personal goals that you care about and then it’s not that difficult to implement good resolutions.
Happy New Year!
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