7 Reasons Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
Since it’s that time of year again, the one that shows up about every 365 days, I thought it would be fitting to dig a little deeper into some of the reasons why I think most New Year’s Resolutions almost always fail. While New Year’s Resolutions may not be directly linked to human movement, the reasons they fail are the same reasons that injury rehab programs fail, that weight loss programs fail, and why health & fitness goals are so hard to achieve.
Here’s my list in no particular order…
1. No accountability: For most people, there is no accountability built into their resolutions. Think about it. When’s the last time you were accountable for any of the New Year’s resolutions you’ve made? Who were you accountable to? Yourself? Your family? Your friends? What was/were the repercussion(s) of not following through?
2. No plan or system to follow: In most cases, resolutions are made without any thought of how they will be executed. No planning is put in place, there are no systems to follow, and no steps to take. Without these, it’s easy to fall off the resolution path and back into the familiar status quo.
3. Just a list of words with no time- constrained behaviours attached: Often, New Year’s resolutions are a vague, open ended wish list, and not a goal oriented target. Most resolutions made have no structured timeline (if any at all!), and they most often don’t have any corresponding behaviours attached. Essentially, they are just a list of words.
4. No value placed on goal: Basically, what does the goal mean to you? Why do you want to achieve it? What’s your pain if you don’t achieve it? What’s your reward when you do achieve it? How will your results change your life?
5. No “reminders” of resolution: Once a goal is made, it’s often tucked away in the back of the mind. This allows the business of life to come to the forefront and take over the all important mind-space. How often do you think of your resolutions outside of the few days around Jan 1st? How often do you remind yourself of what you wanted to achieve?
6. Easy to lie to and sabotage ourselves: We as humans are REALLY good at lying to ourselves. Think about it. How many times will you tell yourself you’ll do something, but then put it off until the tomorrow that never comes? How many times will you tell yourself that you’re going to get up early, set your alarm clock and when it goes off in the morning, your first response is to press snooze? Maybe even press it a few times. Or how about when you fall off your nutrition plan by sneaking a dessert (or two) and then justify quitting it completely because of that one blip? Sometimes we lie and sabotage ourselves because we’re afraid of succeeding.
7. Not taking action: The main reason that most resolutions fail is because no action is actually taken. Without any action, resolutions remain as words without meaning. These actions don’t need to be huge, life altering changes. They just need to be consistent. Ask yourself the following simple question, does this take me closer or farther away from my goal?
Yours in movement.
Dev Chengkalath
