New Year’s resolutions – novogodišnje odluke

Making New Year’s resolutions is a widespread custom in English-speaking countries. The tradition of the New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. At that time Janus, a mythical king of early Rome became the symbol for resolutions and the first month in a new year was named after him: January. Janus had two faces so with one face so he could look back on past events and with the other forward to the future. This meeting of past and future was a convenient point to identify things people were not satisfied with in the previous year and decide to change them. As such, it was readily embraced by protestant religious thinking which emphasizes personal responsibility and the need for self-improvement.

And what could be a better opportunity for making a pledge that you will become a better person and change habits that you are not satisfied with than the beginning of a new year? However, changing a habit is much more difficult and demanding process than we think when carried away by the enthusiasm of leaving behind the old year we make a pledge that we will in the same way leave our old habits behind. Old habits die hard and simply saying I will take up a new hobby, I will give up smoking or I will be more assertive and speak my mind in the meetings will not do the trick.

What is more, promises or pledges made to oneself in such a way are easily broken and can lead to even greater frustration which in turn strengthens the undesired behaviour. It is therefore no wonder that only 12% of goals set as New Year’s resolutions are actually achieved. In order to increase the success rate of those undoubtedly beneficial decisions it helps if you make your goals public and thus get support from your friends.

As with every aim you have much greater chances at keeping your New Year’s resolutions if you make them SMART. This acronym points out that only those aims that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed have a chance of being fulfilled. Losing weight is one of the most common resolutions. But if we say I’ll lose 1 kilo per month instead of just saying I will lose weight, we will make a pledge to do something that is realistic, achievable and can be easily measured on a scale every month.

People often think that they should wait until they are motivated to start doing something but the key is to get started immediately and motivation will follow action. Doing just a few stretches will make you feel better, proud of your achievement, give you the needed energy and motivate you to do more exercise. If you don’t get discouraged by occasional slips, you have increased your chance of making physical exercise a part of your routine.

A person is not only what he or she is, but also what he or she wants to be. So, even if most New Year’s resolutions are broken or simply abandoned and your desk remains cluttered or you never get enough energy to do more exercises, make some resolutions nevertheless.