I don’t want to be a buzz kill nor do I want to bring anyone’s hopes down. I do however have a serious problem with telling the truth. The truth is that most people do not follow their New Year’s resolution for more than a month (no stats/charts but would love to have someone prove me wrong).
Instead of asking everyone for what their New Years resolution is this year, I wanted to share with you why I find that New Year’s resolutions are stupid:
False hope.
I have noticed that people love to alleviate guilt by promising themselves some ridiculous and unattainable amount of success as a New Years resolution. I have heard big spenders talk about eliminating all of their debt as a resolution. I have also heard really over weight people plan to lose all of their excess weight as a resolution. I have had heavy smokers tell me that they will quit smoking as a resolution. In case you haven’t guessed it, none of these resolutions ever came to fruition. In my opinion, I think that a New Years resolution creates a serious false sense of hope.
I will be the first to admit that it feels good to have something to look forward to. Whenever I spend money foolishly I create a false sense of hope by telling myself I will offset my financial mistakes by earning more money with my blog. This doesn’t exactly work out. I need to address the core of the problem instead of creating hopeful unrelated solutions.
Waste of money.
My old gym was always empty. I once asked the manager how the place is still open. He simply told me that the gym’s profitability is not dependent on who comes to the gym, it’s dependent on those that pay for their gym membership. This is very true.
I have noticed over the years that January is the busiest time of the year in the gym. There is just a plethora of newbies dropping weights, leaving weights on, not wiping after themselves, and being flat out ignorant to the gym etiquette. After a month, most of these people are long gone but their ONE YEAR gym membership has either already been paid for in full or is being charged to their account monthly.
A gym membership is by no means a waste of money. Not using your gym membership is the waste.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Sorry to use a lame line from Marge Simpsons, but it’s true. When in doubt always take the next small step. Anyone can eliminate their credit card debt. JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly destroyed $35,000 worth of credit card debt. However, It was a conscious decision with a well thought out plan.
Why do we feel the need to create some sort of a “big bang” at the beginning of the year? I have done this many times myself. I wanted to wait for a specific day and time to make a major change. The key concept that we forget is that it took us many years to get to the point we are presently at. One day or a beginning of a year will not change years of neglect. You can drastically improve your situation by making a conscious decision to change. Just don’t expect to solve all of your problems on the 1st of January or on any one day.
Why wait?
Seriously what does January 1st mean? Why don’t you start working out TODAY? Why wait to quit smoking?
I am 100% guilty of this. I alleviate guilt and feel good about myself when I plan to start an exciting new challenge…soon. The last few years I have been working on kicking myself in the butt to get things start RIGHT NOW (best motivational advice).
It took me forever to launch Studenomics. I was writing articles on my computer for months (which also took the longest time to start). I was going to do a “mega launch” and go all out for it. Then one Friday afternoon I was planning my evening and it hit me that I will never get anything done if I keep on delaying things. That afternoon I read through articles on how to start a blog, chose the first decent looking theme I saw, and Studenomics came into existence. The exact date was November 7th. Nothing glamorous about the day but that is irrelevant because nobody cares about the actual day that it started.
Can you all please do me a personal favor? Do not wait to start something. Do it right now. When you do please leave a comment here to share your experience with us.
I am challenging all of you to do something you’ve always wanted to do, RIGHT NOW
(For those of you that are interested, I wrote about setting goals instead of resolutions exactly one year ago. You can check out how my writing style and perspective have changed over the year.)
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Well said, well said.
Nothing special about the date, but it gives you an extra feeling, to start along with thousands of others with something new. Too bad you fail with thousands of others in the third week of January..
Agree, if you want to do something, just do it. Why wait to start a goal.
I agree with Slow and Steady wins the race. So many New Year’s Resolution revolve around weight, and people adopt ridiculous plans to lose those pounds. Going to the gym everyday, cutting carbs completely, running a mile every day. While it might be nice to accomplish those things, setting too high of a standard will set you on the track to quitting.
An obtainable plan of action needs to be adopted that is incremented only when you are comfortable. Go to the gym 2-3 days a week, run a mile 2-3 times a week, cut some or the right carbs out of your diet. I’m sure you can see how this can relate to finance.
People always promise to make these giant changes and within a few weeks, stop. As you said, slow and steady wins the race, people need to make small changes that they can stick with.
I liked Andy Rooney’s take on new years resolutions in the latest 60 minutes. He resolves to not pick up smoking (and he never has), to not exercise, and to not get ahead on anything. I’m confident that he can stick with them.
I see it as another excuse for the corporate world to cash in.
I mean same with any other holidays, like mothers day, why do we need to like spend a fortune to make one day special for our mom, why not do it everyday.
@Tomasz I agree with you in the sense that why do we always need a day to celebrate something? Tell people how you feel today, not tomorrow. Start working out today, not in a few days.
@Edwin Ahaha I love that. Those are definitely resolutions we could all keep.
@Derek Planning to hit the gym everyday is like when a shopaholic plans to never shop again. Be realistic. You will only disappoint yourself once you revert to your old ways.
@Craig There is absolutely no point to wait to start anything.
@Stefan Yep the third week of January will be depressing for many.
I totally agree. Last year, I had a lofty resolution of losing 10lb (which I almost did, before gaining it all back!) and joined a gym. Needless to say I rarely used it and cancelled the membership in the fall. At that time, the girl at the desk warned me that I would have to repay the membership fee if I decided to rejoin later, but I figured that’s still more economical than continuing a membership you never use.
I too made a resolution to start a blog, and like you I intended to come up with a decent amount of articles, pull out all the bells and whistles and craft the perfect blog. Never happened. Then a couple of days ago, I realized that it would end up another failed resolution. So I just got up and got started on 28Dec09! Nothing fancy – just a simple template to which I added a couple of posts, which are hopefully decent enough.
Bettter late than never, and it’s one less failed resolution I’ll be carrying over to 2010. Happy New Year!
Why wait indeed!
A new year starts EVERY DAY!
A great book on the subject of starting small is One Small Step Can Change Your Life” by Robert Maurer, Ph.D.
He asks “what small trivial step could you take to improve…”
One client started by walking in place for one minute during commercials on TV and slowly worked her way up to the whole commercial break and then much longer.
Start small and win big!
If I can play Devil’s Advocate for a moment…*Shows up next to Homer, playing the pinball machine ‘Devil’s Advocate’* There is something to be said for starting on the changes you have planned in your life at the same time that everyone else is thinking of doing the same. Besides being able to find advice on how to meet the most common resolutions everywhere (and the occasional deal on gym memberships and similar paths to success), there’s also the psychological boost that comes from starting to improve your life when that odometer rolls over.
That all said, I do agree that many (if not most) people set ridiculously high goals, have no real plan to meet said goals, and when they don’t accomplish much in the first month or two, give up (allowing their gym membership to continue pulling money from their account, of course, with the intent to ‘get back there soon’). But that’s more an issue of the specific resolutions and the people making them, more than the concept of the resolutions themselves.
Addendum: I did a quick Google search for ‘New Year’s Resolutions statistics’ and got this as the first result: http://www.proactivechange.com/resolutions/statistics.htm Apparently, 40-45% of American adults make New Year’s resolutions, and of them, 64% maintain them past one month, and 46% maintain them at least six months. It also credits making a resolution to a more than ten-fold in accomplishing the goal after six months, compared to not making a resolution. (Now, of course, this should not be taken as definitive proof of the power of resolutions; the sample size of the study was fairly small, and there is the possibility that merely because they were being observed trying to complete their resolutions, the participants in the study were more diligent than the average resolution maker. Still, it does seem to indicate that making a resolution, particularly if you have an outside party to regularly check on your progress, does tend to result in more success than not doing so.)
As an aside, the first google result I got for ‘Do People Follow Their New Year’s Resolutions?’ was this very article, so congrats on that, Studenomics!
@Roger Thanks for your research and unique perspective Roger! I agree that it’s highly beneficial on many levels to have others involved with your goals. I personally love to have friends hold my accountable for goals and vice versa.
The bigger picture issue that I’m addressing here is that there’s no real benefit to delaying living the life you want and reaching goals you dream of.
Just get up and do it today!
(Btw, I hope more people would search for that on Google =D)
@Studenomist: I suppose that New Year’s resolutions are at best, a mixed blessing. By giving people an excuse to put off making major changes in their lives until the calendar shows January 1st, thus delaying needed changes in their lives through December (and possibly even longer), due to an old tradition.
On the plus side, have a set time when we as a society try to re-evaluate and improve our lives makes it easier to find others who are also trying to accomplish the same goals, thus giving us a support network/someone to whom we can be accountable.
As for delaying living the life you want, I think we should start a resolution follow up tradition where we check in on each other regularly to keep us all motivated. Let’s make the first day of every other month into ‘Resolution Follow-Up/Restart Day’, make it into a tradition to get together with your closest friends (perhaps over dinner or drinks; frugal ones if you resolved to spend less), review your resolutions and your progress, and either continue the good work or try harder again in the future. Plus, you know, more excuses to get together with friends!
Any excuse to get together with friends is a great excuse.
Your idea is excellent in theory but difficult in application. The problem is that nobody wants to admit to not reaching their goals. Plus once you meet up with your buddies, odds are that you will discuss anything but you goals (football, hockey, etc.).
What do you think?