Every year, millions of Americans see the calendar flip from one year to the next and swear the coming year will be significantly different for the better. Many set New Year’s resolutions, a goal they would like to achieve in the new calendar year, but 92 percent of them fail — and 80 percent give up on their resolution by February.
That said, it is time to reassess the tradition, understand why it lacks value and maybe even abandon it altogether.
The whole “new year, new me” mantra does not make much sense. If someone is really determined to go out and achieve something, why bother waiting until a new calendar year? Life on earth is finite (78.6 years in the United States, on average) and there is not really anything special about a new calendar year.
After all, one could argue time is a man-made construct. The next year may read 2019 on the calendars, but in reality it is just a couple of days away and the planet is more than 4.5 billion years old, so what makes the coming year so special? Something good could happen, sure, but something good could happen at any time of year if someone puts in enough work.
The often overlooked issue with New Year’s resolutions is that people push themselves too hard early on without much of a plan — hence the high dropout rate in January.
Take exercise, for example. Health and fitness goals are some of the most common resolutions. While that makes Planet Fitness happy because they get a bunch of new members, it is not helping most people. Sticking to a new exercise regime is difficult, and going from not really working out to overworking oneself is bound to fail. If someone struggles to keep up and really hates going to the gym, the chances of them returning on a regular basis are not great.
Oftentimes, well-meaning resolutions are like political campaign promises: too lofty and utopian. When someone does not have well-thought out, reasonable steps to achieve their goal, it is destined to fail.
Instead of being so idealistic, people should be honest with themselves. Sure, they want to have washboard abs, make six figures, and sleep eight hours per day. But that does not have to wait until January 1, and if there is no game plan to make it happen, why even bother trying?
There is nothing wrong with not setting a resolution at all. A goal could just as easily be set in July. Or, if one is content in life, there may be no need to set a goal at all.
However, for those who are interested in setting a goal at some point, just remember: Progress matters more than perfection.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
