With 2022 coming to an end, many of us are looking toward the new year, and with that comes New Year’s resolutions. The new year gives some of us new opportunities to start new projects and commit to our goals, and for others, it reminds us just how much we’ve procrastinated and how unrealistic our resolutions from last year were. How often do people genuinely stick to their resolutions? How many people have failed after promising they’d keep their rooms clean?  And why did people start making resolutions in the first place? 

New Year’s resolutions have a very long history, dating back all the way to ancient Babylonians almost 4,000 years ago. They made promises to their gods about paying their debts and returning borrowed items. If they succeeded in keeping their promises they believed they were rewarded with favor in the new year. But if they didn’t, then they would fall out of favor with their gods. Now, rather than swearing to the gods, many people see New Year’s resolutions as an opportunity to start fresh, create new habits, and focus on self-improvement, although many are unsuccessful. 

According to UAB medicine, less than 8% of Americans actually stick to their goals, despite millions of people announcing they are gonna get more organized, eat healthier, or spend more time with family and friends. Resolutions can be extremely hard to maintain, they require building new habits and creating changes in the daily routines that you’re used to. Lots of people go into the year with unrealistic expectations and give up on their resolutions after only a week. With the pressure of starting fresh in the new year, many people strive to be perfect at their goals and end up abandoning them after small mistakes. If most resolutions don’t work out, is it even worth making them in the first place?

By waiting until the new year to begin your goals, resolutions are already filled with procrastination. Why wait till January 1st to make changes in your life? Waiting around and pushing things off until the new year only makes it more difficult to stick with your plans. Many people choose new year’s resolutions off of things they think they should be doing, even if they aren’t ready for something as drastic as swearing off processed foods or deleting all social media. 

“At the end of the day, resolutions are really goals. Yet few people treat them as such,  which is why they so often fail. That’s why I recommend you drop resolution-making forever and do something else instead. Something that’s designed to assist you, like setting a theme for the year,” says Heather Moulder, giving her opinion in an article about new year’s resolutions. She gives advice on switching out super specific and unattainable goals and just deciding on a few areas of your life you want to improve in the coming year. 

Despite the likelihood of failure, many people will commit to new years resolutions at the start of 2023, hoping to accomplish things as ludicrous as going to the gym every day after not even having a gym membership. Although the idea of starting fresh in the new year is alluring, maybe working on smaller goals now is a better way to go.