As 2016 sails slowly into the sunset, thoughts turn to the opportunity for a do-over presented by 2017. January, for many people, is a month for optimism. It presents us with a clean slate and the opportunity to re-invent and be our best selves. For some, those desires are put into action with resolutions. I have never been on for New Year’s resolutions as I believed them to be an exercise in futility; probably because I am not great at setting goals and even worse at working towards them. Goals open the door for failure and who wants that?!
In anticipation of resolution season, I started working on some new “habits” in December and I have been very successful thus far. This has led me to rethink my attitude on resolutions. Being a research junkie, and looking for validation, I headed to Google to get some insight into the resolution making thing-nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I stumbled onto a site called Statisticbrain.com where I learned a few things about New Year’s resolutions-one of which affirmed my change of heart.
From 2015:
45% of people usually make resolutions
17% of people make resolutions infrequently. I probably fall into this category
38% of people never make resolutions
8% of resolutions made are successful
49% of resolutions made are infrequently successful
24% of resolutions made are never successful.
People who explicitly make resolutions are 10% more likely to attain their goals than people who explicitly don’t make them.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Take the shot.