How to Stick to Your New Year’s Resolutions
By Leo Kent
Once the gluttony of the festive period is over, many make New Year’s resolutions in the hope of becoming more healthy, happy and fulfilled.
But how often do we actually stick to them? And how often do we make over-ambitious resolutions making it even more likely we will fail. What is the most ridiculous New Year’s resolution you’ve made? Learning to play the Harp, writing that novel, giving up sugar?
We did a little research into the matter, to find out what people generally resolve to do, how people fare with and the best way to actually stick to a resolution.
Sadly, the stats are pretty bleak. According to a survey conducted in 2014 only three percent of people stick to a resolution for the full twelve months. In fact, the average time people hold out with their resolutions is a measly 24 days.
It will come as no surprise that one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight. According to research by ThinkMoney in 2013, 29% of people in the UK resolve to get trim — that’s 14.5 million people.
Following a similar theme, 19% swore to improve their health through exercise while 12% resolved to learn a new skill or further educate themselves.
A survey of 1,700 people conducted at the end of 2014 by Angels Den showed the following top ten resolutions for 2015:
1. Get fitter and healthier (63%)
2. Drink less alcohol (57%)
3. Lose weight (34%)
4. Get out of debt (26%)
5. Stop smoking (22%)
6. Find a job / change career (18%)
7. Spend more time with friends / family (14%)
8. Start my own business (11%)
9. Travel more (9%)
10. Find love (7%)
Clearly these are all positive resolutions but how do we stick to them? Psychology professor, Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, tracked 5,000 people who had made New Year’s resolutions. By comparing those who succeeded with those who didn’t, he worked out the best approach in sticking to your resolve.
Professor Wiseman’s top 10 tips:
1. Make only one resolution. Your chances of success are greater when you channel energy into changing just one aspect of your behaviour.
2. Don’t wait until New Year’s Eve to think about your resolution and instead take some time out a few days before and reflect upon what you really want to achieve.
3. Avoid previous resolutions. Deciding to revisit a past resolution sets you up for frustration and disappointment.
4. Don’t run with the crowd and go with the usual resolutions. Instead think about what you really want out of life.
5. Break your goal into a series of steps, focusing on creating sub-goals that are concrete, measurable and time-based.
6. Tell your friends and family about your goals. You’re more likely to get support and want to avoid failure.
7. Regularly remind yourself of the benefits associated with achieving your goals by creating a checklist of how life will be better once you obtain your aim.
8. Give yourself a small reward whenever you achieve a sub-goal, thus maintaining motivation and a sense of progress.
9. Make your plans and progress concrete by keeping a handwritten journal, completing a computer spreadsheet or covering a notice board with graphs or pictures.
10. Expect to revert to your old habits from time to time. Treat any failure as a temporary setback rather than a reason to give up altogether.
Perhaps, the last one is the most important — how quickly a resolution can unravel when it’s broken once. So just remember, if you keep mucking up your harp scales just keep plucking.
