The most popular resolutions are those connected with our wellbeing, followed by work and family.
A recent survey showed the most popular resolutions in order of popularity.
- Doing more exercise or improving my fitness
- Losing weight
- Saving more money
- Improving my diet
- Pursuing a career ambition
- Spending more time with my family
It’s fair to say that the results of New Year’s resolutions can be mixed. The survey said that a quarter of adults make at least one resolution.
Humans have been making personal resolutions for thousands of years and the preference for choosing the New Year has been prevalent since at least the 19th Century.
Psychological studies suggest there are many reasons that resolutions are more effective when commitment is made at the beginning of the year. Understanding why this happens enables us to make our resolutions stick.
Psychologists believe that we break our lives up into distinct stages rather than one continuous timeline. Life stages such as new jobs, having a child or moving can be split into smaller sections such as years and these give us a ‘clean slate’ effect. This helps us distance ourselves from past perceived failures.
It doesn’t have to be the beginning of a year. It can also be after holidays or even on Mondays.
New Year’s resolutions work. In a recent YouGov survey, 50% of people who make New Year’s resolutions achieve some of them and over a third manage to achieve them all.
We tend to be more positive at the beginning of new stages. The survey said that 80% of respondents are expecting this year to be the same or better than last year.
A positive view of the future tends to motivate action and influence others too. It can be a great idea to share your resolutions with your work colleagues. Even if they don’t immediately write a list for themselves, people constantly pick up on choices and cues from others and this is especially true at work.
There tend to be two types of resolutions. Avoidance and approach. The former involves stopping something, such as cutting down on social media or reducing alcohol intake. Whereas ‘approach’ resolutions involve creating a new habit such as walking twice a week or having a fortnightly personal training session.
A recent study by Professor Per Carlbring from Stockholm University demonstrated that 25% of participants were more likely to achieve their ‘approach’ goals.
One of the best ways to improve your chances of success is to turn your avoidance resolution into an approach one.
Suppose you want to lose weight, Calbring suggests: “Instead of saying that I want to stop eating a candy bar every day, I might instead say that I want to start eating carrots each afternoon.
“Because that would increase your blood-sugar level, and you then wouldn’t have the craving for something else.”
The best resolutions are SMART ones that have a bit more detail to them.
If you are struggling, don’t give up. Reframe your resolution at a new stage such as the beginning of March. We can use the clean slate effect again.
Research suggests that reframing is more effective if we create a stronger sense of a break in our lives so rather than using just the beginning of a month, use the first day of Spring.
Whatever happens, make the effort to make a resolution. You have to be in it to win it.