Three reasons why you should avoid New Year's Resolutions
No New Year's resolutions, no stress! Ditch the unrealistic goals in 2025 and do this instead...
It's that time of the year again when people set their New Year's resolutions for 2025
January marks the start of a new year, which is often seen as a clean slate for people who want to improve on the previous 12 months.
Popular resolutions include:
- Get fit/Lose weight
- Quit smoking or drinking
- Save money
- Eat healthier
- Volunteer
Those seem like reasonable goals, but scores of people won't even make it past month one successfully. According to a report published on Virta Health in 2018, less than 10% of Americans achieved their New Year's resolutions in 2017.
Most (72.6%) started off strong and stuck to their resolutions during the first week of January. However, only 44.8% made it to June.
One of the main reasons resolutions fail is that people set unrealistic goals. Instead, they should set SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and time-bound.
For example, instead of saying, 'Get fit in 2025', you need something like 'Lose 1kg every month until December' or 'Run a 10km race in under 60 minutes by November'.
Your goal is not only specific but also measurable and achievable, giving you a better chance at success.
However, why not ditch New Year's resolutions altogether in 2025? Setting goals is great for personal development, but it can also leave you feeling like a failure by the end of the year if you have not achieved even one.
Here are three reasons why you should NOT set New Year's Resolutions.
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Bad for your mental health
The added pressure of reaching your goals could negatively affect your mental health. You might feel stressed if you fall off the wagon or don't reach certain monthly targets, especially as December draws closer. The anxiety and stress could leave you feeling like a loser or failure.
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No Middle Ground
Many people often feel the need to set big New Year's resolutions to feel a sense of accomplishment. It's a 'go big or go home' mentality, often leading to failure. If the goal is not big enough then is it worth striving for? If your weight loss goal is to lose 10kg in a year then anything less would seem like you have fallen short of your goals.
Easy to throw in the towel
Failure after failure is likely to put you off your resolution altogether. On the flip side, many people try their best in January, slowly lose interest and then wait until the last few months of the year to take their resolutions seriously. The final push only leads to more failure.
Do this instead...
Instead of setting 101 New Year's resolutions, why not set a theme for the year? It can be one word, such as " gratitude, "courage," "creativity," "innovation," or "positivity".
You can also use a quote as your theme for 2025. If you would like to work on your procrastination, a quote like, "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today" or Pablo Picasso's "Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone" can help motivate you.
If you insist on setting resolutions for the year, why not focus on one main goal? This way, you can give it all your attention without trying to change too many things in your life simultaneously.
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