Making a New Year’s resolution is an essential part of the festive traditions. Few of us can resist claiming we’ll ditch the cigarettes, cut back on alcohol or stick to a new diet.
But new research shows that while 45% of Americans made a New Year resolution, fewer than one in 10 of them managed to maintain their pledge for even a month. According to the University of Scranton, the No.1 resolution is to lose weight but they found that half of those who planned to stick to a diet didn’t bother because they were so sure they’d fail anyway.
The quitters also included more than three-quarters of the smokers who had resolved to stay off the cigarettes but lit up again because, like the dieters, they weren’t convinced they’d be able to stick to their resolution. Half of those who intended to quit alcohol for at least a month gave up because they admitted it would be too hard to stick to.
The lack of willpower is what put paid to the New Year resolutions of one in five of those who participated in the study. Others identified factors such as stress, lack of self-control and a confession of an unwillingness to commit to the resolution. One in seven even admitted ditching their pledge because they missed what they had been given up.
The study concludes that the over-riding factor in people dumping their New Year resolutions early is willpower with many of those quizzed confessing they lacked the desire even to follow through on the pledges they had made.
It’s clear that the only way to succeed in your goals, whether rashly made as a New Year resolution or given more careful thought, is to have the desire to follow them through, no matter the setbacks and no matter how much you miss what you’ve given up, such as smoking, alcohol or sweet treats.
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