Every year on January 1st, resolutions are made by people trying to better themselves. However, not everybody really follows through with them.
Although half the population bails on their resolution, the world continues to create these goals. They require serious motivation and time management to be scheduled into daily life.
“Surprisingly, 75% of resolutions will be continued through the entire first week of January, but only 46% make it past six months. Also, 39% of people in their twenties will achieve their resolution each year while only 14% of people over 50 years of age will achieve theirs,” states the University of Scranton.
Why is it that so many people fail with their resolutions? Is it because a lack of motivation or are their goals too inflated for a one-year time span? According to Educational Psychology Interactive, reasons for failing a goal or responsibility come from factors such as distractibility, lack of concentration, spreading oneself too thin or too thick, fear of failure, excessive self-pity, lack of perseverance and dedication, inability to translate thought into action, and procrastination.
The most common resolution people make is to get healthier and change their weight. This is shown by the large numbers of people joining gyms, classes, and weight loss support groups. But by the second week of February, around 80 percent of people who had a health-related resolution go back home with a new kind of guilt looking back at them in the mirror.
As LIVESTRONG.com states, “When you don’t see the results you think you should, you may become dispirited and unmotivated.”
Mr. Komp, the Graphic Design, Photography, and Yearbook teacher at PVHS, thinks that lack of motivation has a lot to do with resolutions.
“I feel as if people create resolutions that are not attainable. It is like a penny in a fountain, you just do it because it is a tradition, not because you actually want to do it.”
Dr. Mario Passannante, a chiropractor in Plymouth Meeting, believes in the power of New Year’s resolutions.
“I enjoy helping people keep their New Year’s resolutions when they decide to finally take their health seriously and help improve the things that were holding them back from experiencing life.”
Although resolutions are made with the best intentions, many people set themselves up for failure by creating unrealistic expectations for their goals. In the future, people should charge forward with motivation and perseverance to accomplish multiple short-term goals throughout the year.