According to a 2014 survey performed by the University of Scranton, a huge majority of Americans were unable to uphold past New Year’s resolutions. Results showed that 71% stuck to resolutions for the first two weeks, but less than 50% kept promise to resolutions for six months. This indicates that people forget about their resolutions or for some reason they are unable to maintain them. Why do individuals break resolutions? How can individuals improve their habits and daily lifestyles?

The main issue with resolutions are that they are unrealistic. People make unrealistic resolutions, failing to take effectiveness into consideration. In addition, after some time individuals are not committed to their initial goals due to a myriad of reasons. For example, people are too engrossed in trying to fulfill resolutions that they forget about their happiness and what life is about. It’s not just about setting goals, but also enjoying everything that comes your way. When we make resolutions that hold too many expectations, they prove to be overwhelming and difficult to follow. Living well emphasizes making good choices based on what matters to individuals. Francine Ng, a junior, said, “People shouldn’t have to create goals in the beginning of the year in hopes to achieve them. These goals can be set and accomplished any day of the year. People just have to ask themselves what they want to accomplish.”

Another problem with resolutions is the lack of motivation and dedication to maintain them. Commitment becomes an issue when goals are not meaningful and personal to individuals. Resolutions start to become trite because most are so common amongst everyone that they begin to lose their meaning. Initially, people may feel motivated, but this is only temporary. People have such high hopes in the beginning, but the unrealisticness of this results in their energy depleting as time goes on.

Forget about making New Year’s resolutions, and make the right decisions and choices instead. In the end, it is much more satisfactory to have simple goals that hold importance and substance to them rather than half-hearted resolutions that end up becoming meaningless.