Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work

How many times have you started a New Year’s resolution? And how many of those have actually been successful? That’s what I thought. Not many, if any. In fact, only 8% of us actually achieve our New Year’s resolutions. Are these statistics only true of New Year’s resolutions, or are they true of all goal-setting agendas? I’d like to suggest the latter is true. Mostly, we set unrealistic goals for ourselves and when we fail, we reinforce the self-doubt we started with and often make it worse. According to a Harvard Business School study, people that write down their goals are 10 times more likely to succeed than people with no goals. Despite these staggering statistics, over 80% of people have no goals at all, and only 3% of the ones who do, actually write them down.

I get it. The struggle is real when it comes to goals that we try, and try again to achieve. There’s no prizes for guessing the number one New Year’s resolution. That’s right. "Lose weight". Why anybody thinks that the holiday season, with all the amazing food that’s available in gluttonous amounts, is a good time to losing weight I do not know! One year, I thought it would be a great idea to cut sugar out of my diet throughout the holiday season. Stupid. Obviously I failed, and suffered serious food envy. Perhaps, if I’d created a healthier lifestyle around this idea then I would’ve been successful, but no, I wanted a fast track to achieving this goal. Since then, I’ve realised something about my personal motivation style. I need something really significant to drive me, like conquering the Inca trail, to get me up in the morning to exercise. I have to create something to strive for, other than a healthy lifestyle, to get me going. No, it’s not ideal. I’d love to jump out of bed in the morning and go for a run knowing that I’m doing it purely for my personal health and not need any other reason. But that’s not how I’m wired. I need a mountain (figuratively and literally) to conquer. I need to say “Yes!” to something much bigger than me before I find the motivation to succeed. It’s a very backward approach to motivation, but there is a method to the madness.

“What’s the point?” I’m not alone in asking this question. I ask myself this many times a day, about many different things. It comes from the need to find meaning in everything. If there’s no meaning, there’s no point! This has to be true of goals too. And I believe that if we do not attach enough meaning or significance to a goal, we will inevitably fail. We might understand it’s importance on a surface level, but it’s the deeper levels that fuel our motivation. It’s not enough for the goal to just be a “good idea”. It needs to have larger implications for our belief systems to attach to in order to succeed.

When I conquered the Inca trail, arriving in Machu Picchu after four days of trekking up and down the mountains with far less oxygen than I was used to, I felt a true sense of achievement. But it was so much more than that. The deeper meaning that fuelled my motivation was my family. My father, brother, and sister were on this trip with me. The first time we’d done anything like this together. We not only conquered it together, in the months leading up to it we also trained together. Did I enjoy the training any more than I did if I was alone? Heck no! But it wasn’t just about me. It was about all of us. You see, this was the meaning I had inside me the whole time, pushing me up those hills, carrying that heavy pack, pushing through the pain and exhaustion.

Even as I write this article, I’m struggling to be motivated. It’s almost Christmas, I have responsibilities swimming around my head, and I haven’t done an ounce of Christmas shopping. I’m wondering when would be the most strategic time to have another go at getting healthier and fitter. I’m thinking about which mountains I want to conquer next (purely figuratively this time). All of these things are an unwelcome distraction right now. I feel almost in a paralytic state of unproductiveness until Christmas is over! It’s like my brain has taken a vacation. You know when you’ve got so much to do, you just lie down and take a nap? That’s real. But we don’t have to give in to it! We can shut down those voices of confusion that swim around our heads, practice structuring our lives a little more, and find we achieve more of our goals. 

Here is what I believe is the key to achieving any goal. Meaning. If we attach a significant meaning to a goal, and write it down, we are far more likely to achieve it. If you are the type of person that responds more to internal motivation than external motivation, this will work for you. I’ve seen countless articles and blogs giving any number of steps to achieve a goal. How do we know which one is right? What if I miss a step? Does that mean I’ll fail? What is the correct formula to success? It’s all a little overwhelming really. All I know is that if what we do carries meaning and purpose then we need little to no accountability in making sure we reach a goal. It will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you want to lose weight, for example, find out why that’s important to you. Is it to feel healthier, live longer, look better, to have more energy, to feel proud of yourself, to be able to play with your kids longer, to conquer a mountain or run a marathon, to become a Victoria’s Secret model? Whatever your reason is, it needs to carry a deep enough meaning for you to succeed.

Consider this. The word resolute means, “to be admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering”. I think it’s time we put more resoluteness into our resolutions. Write the goal. Make it plain. Attach your purpose. Make it happen.