Well folks, it’s that time of the year again. As we roll into December and start preparing for Christmas, many of us are also looking forward to the New Year. It’s time for setting high hopes and making new lofty goals, right?

New Year’s Resolutions are a pretty big deal with all kinds of people; young and old, men and women. Some estimates say that as much as 50% of American’s make new years resolutions. They seem so natural and right. “It’s the New Year and I will turn over a new leaf”, we think to ourselves. This time for sure! This time, I will definitely spend weekends setting up my part-time business. Or, I will start that new language course I have been putting off. I’m definitely going to hit the gym ‘this time’. We’re full of conviction about changing things. While we’re psyched up for the new goals (gym memberships skyrocket in January each year), eventually our will power fades and only about 8% of us will actually achieve the resolution that we’ve set. Our will to make that important change in life is gone all of a sudden. Like a popped balloon from the New Year’s party last night, we are left wondering why we lack commitment needed for starting that new hobby or making that lifestyle change we were focused on. Suddenly, it is gone, poof, vanished.

Why? Why are we no longer committed to something that we were 100% sure of up until the last moment?

Well, my theory is that when we actually want to make a significant change in our life, we shouldn’t wait for a special day to implement it. We need to do it as soon as we can. When we put off doing something new to a future date, especially to the New Year, it is simply a way to tell our mind why we don’t want to do it now. Telling yourself that you will make a BIG change in your life at the start of the New Year is a sign that you will NEVER do it. New Year’s goals are for people who have already decided that they don’t want to do something, but find accepting that difficult. So, they make up an excuse in their minds and put it off to the New Year. By the time we get there, the desire to follow through has already gone and we are no longer troubled by it.

False Sense of Accomplishment

So, why do new years resolutions fail? Behavioral psychologists have found that although around 40% people make New Year Resolutions, less than 10% actually manage to follow through with their plans for more than a few months. While many of these people fail because they set unrealistic goals, researchers also believe that there is another underlying reason for their failure.

They call it the “false sense of accomplishment”. This false sense of accomplishment occurs when you spend a great deal of time and effort in planning the start of something new. The energy that you’ve spent planning and thinking about the new lifestyle can make you feel like you’ve accomplished the goal before you’ve actually even begun. The effort you’ve put into planning makes you feel you have been productive, even though all you’ve done in reality is just plan for it.

So, how can you avoid falling into this false sense of achievement? Don’t delay doing something important to you till a particular date on the calendar. Why do you want to start going to the gym at the start of the New Year. What is keeping you from starting today?Unless you are CERTAIN going to win the big lottery on the 1st of January, you should not hold back on starting your new goals now. The world will not go through a sudden change on the first day of 2019. The best time to start is now.

Do Not Tell Others About Your New Year’s Goal

There was an interesting study conducted in 2008 by a team led by Peter Gallwitzer from New York University. The researchers had two separate groups of students who were told to note down their goals and intentions for the week. After submitting the forms, one group was told that their results were destroyed before being recorded while the other was told that their responses had been recorded.
The researchers had the students fill out another questionnaire two weeks later to report how they had made their goals submitted two weeks prior.

Tests were carried out for several groups of students. Researchers found that the students who believed their goals had not been recorded were more likely to follow through with their plans. Students who thought their goals had been recorded did not complete their intended goals as often.

They concluded that when you tell others about your plans, it gives you a sense of false accomplishment. When you publicly announce to people that you are going to start taking music classes from the start of New Year, it creates a premature sense of completeness. You can feel proud about how you are going to improve. Rather than motivating you, the pride can make you feel like you have already completed what you intended to do.

So Where Can You Go Wrong?

Here’s what I think, New Year’s Resolutions can often do more harm than good because you are focusing on making immediate change in a short time, rather than planning for small incremental changes over a longer period. Will power is finite so we must choose discipline and consistency instead. Aligning your goals to a specific future date is a recipe for failure. Who knows how you will be feeling on that day or what kind of life emergency comes up that distracts you from your goals? Suppose you wanted to write a new book, the next bestseller. You are filled with ideas about the plotline and know the characters you will write about down to the very fine details. Would you wait to start until the next year’s arrival or start now when you have ideas for the story in your mind? Who knows what kind of mood you will be in by that time? How likely is it that you will get the same flow of ideas at a later date? It makes little sense to wait for the New Year, just because everyone else is waiting for it too.

Start now. If nothing else, you should think about the head start you will get on others. When you get to the New Year, you will be much happier about starting early.

BEST GOAL TRACKING APP

I’ve used tons of apps to help me track my goals over the years, but the one that I’m using now is the best that I’ve encountered. It’s called HabitBull and it works by helping you re-program your habits. You can get it at the App Store on iOS or Google Play on Android devices.