Making a Successful New Year's Resolution

While most Americans are ringing in the New Year, they are also resolving to adopt a healthy behavior such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or exercising more. It is admirable that millions of Americans set goals to improve their lives so why do so many people fail at achieving their resolution? According to Positive Psychology News, about 30 percent of people have scaled back their resolution efforts after 2 weeks, most people have given up by June, and only 12 percent of people achieve their resolution (Fieldsted 2011).  The secret to keeping a new year’s resolution lies in the motivation, structure, and self-efficacy of that goal.

            The first step in making and keeping a new year’s resolution is having the proper motivation, support, and psychological readiness to make that change.  In a study done by Koestner, Lekes, and Powers, it was found that goals based in personal interest and meaningful values were more likely to make progress than goals based on external pressures (2002).  This means that new years resolutions should not be made because everyone else is or because it’s that time of year, but because you have a goal that is meaningful to you and have the desire to change.  “If you don’t have strong, internal motivation within yourself, you won’t be successful” (RachBeisel 2009).  Melissa Jones, a licensed psychologist in Provo, states that goals should be set when you are ready to meet them and have the physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional motivation (Fieldsted 2011).  An aspect of maintaining motivation that is often overlooked is having a support system.  When someone wants to make a change, they need to tell somebody about it that will hold them accountable to that goal (Fieldsted 2011). Share your goals with friends who will help keep you on track and nudge you back in the right direction if you stray from your goal (Dubin 2009). 

            Most people are ineffective at achieving their personal goals because they are structured poorly, too ambiguous, too difficult, or unrealistic, as well as failing to create a  plan of action to achieve that goal (Koestner, Lekes, Powers 2002). The key is to focus on realistic goals with measurable results (RachBeisel 2009).  For example, a lot of people just make a goal to lose weight.  The problem with this is how much? By when? For what reason?  If you decide to lose 25 pounds, that can be overwhelming to thing about.  Break things down into small steps that can be managed (RachBeisel 2009).  Aim to lose 5 pounds by a certain date by losing 1 pound per week.  This goal is specific and measurable and not so big that you feel defeated before even starting (RachBeisel 2009).  It’s important to create bite-sized jobs you feel confident you’ll be able to accomplish (RachBeisel 2009).  The reason you’ve adopted this goal should reflect personal interests and values, not because of social pressure or expectations of what you should do (Koestner, Lekes, Powers 2002).

            The second step in making and keeping a new years resolution is to set a specific, measurable, and realistic goal that allow setbacks to be viewed as growth.  Staying realistic is what most people struggle with in maintaining their goal.  Do not make resolutions absolute such as saying you won’t eat junk food.  Saying you can’t have something makes you want it more, and this is not realistic.  Make your goal specific and measurable by eating one less junk food item per day.  This sets parameters and allows for adjustment to meet the ultimate goal you are trying to meet.  Another important lesson is viewing setbacks as growth.  Jones states that one of the main reasons people lose motivation early on is because they expect perfection in their resolutions (Fieldsted 2011).  As soon as one slip up occurs people feel like they have failed and give up.  Jones also states that forgiveness and compassion need to be built into you resolution (Fieldsted 2011).  If you fall short of your goals, ask yourself what kept you from achieving them and try to make corrections (Dubin 2009).  This is where it is helpful to have a support system that will motivate you to keep going and help you overcome your setbacks.  One way to prevent setbacks and deal with obstacles is to create a specific action plan.  Gollwitzer states that people who are ineffective at meeting their goal have failed to develop an action plan, therefore, not specifying when they will initiate their goal pursuit and how they will ensure their persistence in the face of distractions and obstacles (Koestner, Lekes, Powers 2002).  Research suggests that that furnishing goals with specific implementation intentions can greatly enhance success (Koestner, Lekes, Powers 2002).  This makes sense as any plan of action is easier to carry out when a step by step plan is laid out.  

            “A key part to achieving your most lofty goals is to get started immediately.  Action precedes motivation” (Dubin 2009).  If you wait until you have motivation to start something, you might never start it.  Instead of waiting for inspiration to act on you goals, take action and inspiration will follow (Dubin 2009).  Start with small steps and you will pick up momentum realizing that it’s not too bad.  This will make it easier to keep going and help you stay motivated.

            Perhaps the most important aspect of being successful at achieving your new year’s resolution is self-efficacy.  “Higher self-efficacy is generally correlated with a greater likelihood of achieving one’s goals” (Grohol 2009).  Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief that they have control over their behavior.  The Theory of Planned Behavior states that in order to change a behavior you have to change your behavioral intentions.  Self-efficacy controls one’s beliefs and positive intentions towards a behavior.  To be truly successful at achieving your new year’s resolution, you need to develop your own self-efficacy.  Everyone has their own stressors in life and different expectations they want to meet.  You are in charge of your expectations.  Sometimes we don’t meet our expectations at work or in our family, but we don’t quit on them so don’t quit on yourself (Adams 2011).  Research shows that people who believe that self-control is changing and unlimited tend to set more resolutions and be more successful than people who believe you are born with a limited amount of self-control (Grohol 2009).  The lesson learned here is put your mind to it and don’t give up on yourself.  You control your behavior so make it what you want it to be.

            The key to making and keeping a new year’s resolution reside in creating a specific, measurable, and realistic goal.  Choose to work on one goal at a time and develop an action plan to achieve it.  Make sure it is the right time for you to make a change and don’t let outside pressures force you to make a change you don’t desire.  Develop a support system that will encourage you and keep you on track.  Find the right motivation and self-efficacy and you will be on your way to successfully achieving that no longer elusive New Year’s resolution.

References

Adams, A. (2011). New year’s resolutions and self-efficacy. Applied Social Psychology. Retrieved on October 4, 2012, from http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/ applied_ social_psychology/ 2011/11/new-years-resolutions-and-self-efficacy.html

Dubin, H., RachBeisel, J. (2009 December 31).  Where to begin: expert advice on maintaining resolutions. Retrieved from http://www.umm.edu/features/ prepare.htm

Fieldsted, P. (2011, December 31). New year’s resolutions about motivation, not the new year. Daily Herald. Retrieved from http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/new-years-resolutions-about-motivation-not-the-new-year/article_a0b0739b-fab5-5872-9aa6-fb2843229ffe.html

Grohol, J. (2009). The psychology of new year’s resolutions. Psych Central. Retrieved on October 4, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2008/12/28/the-psychology-of-new-years-resolutions/

Koestner, R., Lekes, N., & Powers, T. (2002). Attaining personal goals: self-concordance plus implementation intentions equals success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 83(1), 231-244.

Katherine Sattovia