POV is a new weekly column from our Local writers offering our thoughts and opinions. Sometimes those will be linked to a current news item. and other times it may be a topic one of us is happening to ponder at the time. We hope POV gives you something to think about, and we'd love to hear your thoughts on what we write. Feel free to reach out and tell us what you think.
We are now just over a week into 2025. How is your New Year’s resolution going?
Have you begun your journey toward better health and fitness? Are you using the meditation app on your phone to enhance your mental well-being? Are you resisting the urge to stop at a drive-thru for coffee or a quick snack on your way to work? Have you already finished reading the first book toward your lofty yearly goal?
Whatever your resolution may have been if you’re still going strong, good for you. In fact, a study conducted by Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business found that about 23 per cent of people abandon their resolutions by the end of the first week. This means you're officially not part of that group.
If you can stick it out until the end of January, you'll have lots of company. The same report states that 43 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail within just one month.
Digging deeper, a 2023 Forbes Health/One Poll survey of 1,000 Americans found that the average resolution lasts just over 3.5 months. Additionally, 22 per cent last two months, another 22 per cent make it to three months, and 13 per cent last four months.
Why do so many people give up? It makes sense that the end of a calendar year is an opportunity to look back on the previous 12 months and take stock of your life, a chance to reflect on what was good about 2024 and what you could have done better.
And it’s also the perfect opportunity to commit to change for the upcoming 12 months. No one should be faulted for that. I applaud anyone who even tries, no matter how long it lasts.
But what if committing to change is not a part of your general make-up? Do you make resolutions just because it’s the thing you're supposed to do?
If if that’s the case, there are some ways for you to better stick to your commitment longer than a week, a month, or even four months. Not surprisingly, there is a ton of advice out there on the internet.
An article in The Downey Patriot, a California-based newspaper, suggests that setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) goals will increase your success rate. The same article suggests you focus on the process and not solely on the outcome, and that creating a supportive environment around you can also help.
A 2016 study conducted by a group of researchers from Sweden, Britain, and the United States supports these suggestions. The researchers gathered 200 participants who had set various New Year’s resolutions, including goals related to weight loss, smoking cessation, improving relationships, and achieving a better work/life balance.
The professors discovered that approach-oriented goals—those driven by positive aspirations that align with personal growth and fulfillment—lead to greater success than avoidance-oriented goals, which focus on avoiding or eliminating negative outcomes.
Further, the research showed that participants receiving some support reported greater success than those receiving extended support and those receiving no support at all, suggesting that instructions and exercises regarding effective goal-setting were key. It was concluded that New Year’s resolutions show promise as a potentially effective strategy for overall behaviour change.
What can you take from all of this? It seems it’s best to not just make that resolution, but to also do it methodically. To improve your chance for success plan it out in little steps. Sure, set that goal to lose 30 pounds, but include several others that are easier to achieve quickly, that will give you little victories along the way.
As suggested by author and motivational speaker James Clear in his 2018 book Atomic Habits, it’s the tiny changes that lead to remarkable results.
So you’ve resolved to learn how to play the ukulele this year. Don’t just focus on the end goal. Create a system with some specific, satisfying and attainable checkpoints along the way. And create a new habit that will help you attain those goals.
To increase the odds of you making good on your resolution, maybe you decide to grab that uke and practice for 30 minutes at the same time each day. Clear suggests that you use a tactic called habit-stacking, where you take a current habit and connect it with the new habit. For instance, if you have a coffee every day at 2 p.m., stack your half-hour of uke practice on top of that.
As you make the new habit obvious it becomes enjoyable. And as you see results you can see yourself getting closer to that end goal. Maybe you master the C chord within a few sessions. Then you move on to the F chord. Then you can master the change between those two chords before moving on to the A major chord.
Soon you're playing a full song. Maybe the next step is to organize a jam session with a fellow ukulele aficionado. But don't forget to give yourself some rewards for each of these little victories.
According to Clear, this focus on the systems creates lasting habits. “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems,” he says.
I believe that following Clear’s four laws for effective habits - make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying - can help solve that annual tendency for us to break our resolutions.
After all of this you may ask yourself, ‘Mike, what is your 2025 New Year’s resolution?’
I’ll save the ukulele for 2026. Like many, my resolution this year revolves around fitness. I want to be more active beyond walking the dogs every morning. My habits? Regular pickleball sessions every Sunday and frequent trips to the NOTL Community Centre gym.
Check in with me at the end of January to see if I’m still going and you can also let me know how you are managing your own resolution by emailing me at [email protected].
