New Year’s Resolutions Are Worthless

 This is the time of year when gyms fill up and liquor stores struggle for business. But everyone knows that both of these situations are only temporary, because by mid-February most people have moved on from their resolutions and back to doing whatever habits are so ingrained in them that no meaningful change is ever realized. 

In fact, it is such a forgone conclusion that New Year’s Resolutions won’t last that they have made a national “holiday” out of it. National Quitting Day is typically the second Saturday in February, this year that will be February 8th. 

Most people give up their New Year’s Resolutions for a couple of reasons. 

1. They fail to plan. They don’t use a framework when planning their goals like a S.M.A.R.T. plan. Smart is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound. They say “In 2025 I am going to lose weight”, instead of “In 2025 I am going to lose 5 pounds a month by doing (inset plan here).” I have been more than guilty of doing this in the past, and have certainly wound up paying for a gym membership that I didn’t use. I also made a goal in 2023 to run my first half marathon in April at the Syracuse Half Marathon, and even though I had never run that distance before I would accomplish it by following the Nike Running App’s Half Marathon Training Program.

2. They don’t show themselves enough grace. What I mean by this is everyone can’t be on point 100% of the time. People plan to go to the gym 5 days a week. Inevitably conflicts arise, and they can’t make it to the gym, or they have a moment of weakness and give into the temptation of the chocolate cake, or that extra slice of pizza. As soon as those lapses in concentration or conflicts of interest arise people decide that their goal is too difficult and give up. Instead of focusing on what they have accomplished they focus on the much smaller foibles. 

As I said, I have fallen prey to both of these shortcomings. A couple of years ago I came up with a system that seems to work for me. Instead of making one big resolution, that can be difficult to stick to, I make smaller resolutions that I want to last for one month. I started out by making a resolution that was small and easy to accomplish, the idea was to come up with an easy win. I resolved to make my bed everyday for a month. I never made my bed. How my bed looked when I crawled out of bed was how it looked when I went to bed. That year, every morning I made my bed. That is a habit that I carry on to this day. Do I miss making my bed on occasion? Absolutely. Am I critical of myself when I miss, no way, I just resolve to do better the next day, and I do. 

I have made other resolutions that have stuck through the years as well, some are not strictly adhered to, but they are more the rule now than the exception. For instance, l also gave up drinking alcohol for one month. I felt that I was drinking too much at the time, and I probably was. It wasn’t considered out of the ordinary for me to drink a bottle of wine or 12 ounces of whiskey in a sitting. So I quit, cold turkey, for one month. That “habit” lasted for almost two years. I have since had the occasional beer or whiskey, but again that is the exception, not the rule.

One 30 day resolution that has become the rule with no exception is that I no longer eat meat. I am more than a vegetarian, but not quite a vegan. I consider myself plant based. This all started on a whim. I had read some articles about people that gave up meat and became intrigued. During that month I never had felt better. I slept better, my skin cleared up, and I was more alert and responsive than I had ever been. So to this day, almost five years on, I haven’t eaten any meat, cheese, or dairy.

This year my first 30 day resolution is/was to wake up with no snooze, every morning. Have I been successful, every morning? No way. With my schedule there are days when I just can’t bring myself to get out of bed after a 5 hour sleep night. Am I giving up on it? Also, no way. I didn’t make it this morning, but I will tomorrow. 

My next 30 day resolution will be to workout every day for 30 days. What will that look like? I am not going to force myself into my garage gym every morning, somedays I may go for a run, or a ruck, or a ski. This is all part my larger goal of improving my health.

What do you think? Is this an approach to resolutions that could work for you? Could you stick with a resolution for 30 days to see if it is the right habit for you? Or will you be coming up with a more structured (S.M.A.R.T.) solution to your resolution? Or will you simply just extend yourself a little bit more grace? Or will you just be another statistic/casualty of National Quitting Day?