New Year’s Resolutions and How to Keep Them
by Madison Pitsch
New Year’s resolutions date back to Babylon in 2000 A.D. At the beginning of every year, the Babylonians would make a promise to their gods that they would repay debts and return anything they had borrowed in the past year. The Romans eventually carried on this tradition, praying to the god Janus and promising to behave well in the year to come.
Today, New Year’s resolutions typically are a goal for self-improvement. NBC News said America’s top resolution for 2017 is to get healthy and lose weight. The following most popular resolutions were: to get organized, live life to the fullest, pick up a new hobby, spend less money, travel more and read more.
The best way to pick a resolution is to analyze your life. You know yourself better than anyone, therefore you know what will make the biggest impact on your life and in the lives of others. To pick a goal, first reflect on what worked well and what did not work well in the past year.
Secondly, minimize the number of goals set. If you choose too many goals, you could risk spreading yourself thin and being unable to accomplish even one. If you reduce the amount that you have to focus on, you increase the chance of change.
Thirdly, create a “quit list.” Basically, a quit list is a list of things that monopolize your time and distract from actually accomplishing anything.
Sticking to a New Year’s resolution can be a difficult task in itself. The key to keeping resolutions is to make them attainable. How can one be expected to run a marathon if they have never run a mile in their life? Keep goals applicable and it will be easier to see the difference.
Having goals in writing makes them more realistic and forces you to go after them. Experts recommend writing out a plan to accomplish your goals and resolutions, in addition to making rules for when you fall off the wagon or get sidetracked from your goals. Dividing a big goal into small steps not only makes it more attainable, it also makes it easier to stick to the plan.
