“Why Are My Resolutions Not Working?”
With another New Year’s Eve under their soon-to-be-slimmer belts, people are planning their Resolutions for 2015. Close to half (48 percent) of Americans are inspired to make Resolutions as we ring in a New Year, but only 8 percent of those actually achieve the goals they set for themselves. So why is it so hard for people to keep their commitment to their Resolutions?
There are really four main reasons why people aren’t able to achieve their annual goals. From setting too many or just finding the time to work on them, most people fall into one of these common Resolution traps.
Top 4 New Year’s Resolution Pitfalls
- Big Lofty Goals
People want to believe that as they enter a new year, habits will magically change overnight—but this just isn’t the case. Big arbitrary goals, like losing weight or saving money, don’t happen without lifestyle changes and people that don’t create real plans as to how they’re going to achieve that important goal will find themselves right back where they started this time next year. - The Laundry List of Change
The reality of most people’s lives is that they’re likely not going to be able to lose the weight, put the house in order, find a new job, and visit their grandmother all by the end of January. People need to be realistic about how long it can take to achieve certain goals. - Putting the Pieces of the Puzzle Together
If people truly want to stay fit and healthy, they need to look at what that means—the food we eat, how we exercise our bodies, things that cause stress—all of these are valuable pieces towards the goal of overall wellness but need to be addressed individually first. - Brain Drain Blame
New research on brain health proves bad habits are incredibly hard to break, especially when tackled all at once. Our pre-frontal cortex—the area of our brains that has developed most recently—is responsible for keeping us focused, handling short-term memory and solving abstract problems. This area is also responsible for will power, which people can overuse, leading to lax behavior.
So what does this mean? Should we just not make New Year’s Resolutions?
Absolutely not! The good news is that those of us who do make explicit resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain our goals than people who do not make explicit resolutions—the key word being explicit. We hope you enjoyed this article “Why Are My Resolutions Not Working.” Let us know in the comments if you liked it.
Click here for the Top 10 Strategies to Stay on Track with Resolutions!
Contact us if you have questions.