TheBetterWarrior

A Happy New Year, Warriors! With any new year comes a new year resolution, and many of you may have made some new year resolutions already or you are going to.

I hope you have celebrated the 2023rd new year the way you wanted to, if not, don’t worry, you got the rest of the year 2023 to celebrate.

Even in civilizations as ancient as Egypt, people took part in a celebration called ‘Wepet Renpet’, which translates to “opening of the year.”

Each year, millions of us, make at least one new year resolution. While some manage to achieve their resolutions, others, unfortunately, fail miserably – I was among them too. 

And it’s maddening at times, sometimes we lose hope about doing the one thing we decided to do and there are multiple reasons for that.

But before the unveiling reasons for failure and offering a better alternative, allow me to explain what a new year resolution is.

The Mysteries of New Year Resolutions

What is a new year’s resolution?

A New Year’s resolution is a tradition of sorts, most common in the Western culture but also found in the Eastern culture, in which a person resolves to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behaviour, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve their life at the start of a new year.

By Definition: a promise to do something different in the new year.

When we decide on a new year resolution, we are making a commitment to follow a goal or a task, and generally, wish to achieve it within a certain period of time.

If you are still wondering, I got you covered with a few examples of the most common new year resolutions, which are:

• Exercise more
• Lose weight
• Get organized
• Learn a new skill or hobby 
• Live life to the fullest
• Save more money / spend less money
• Quit smoking
• Spend more time with family and friends
• Travel more
• Read more

Sounds great, when you think about it, right?

Where did it originate?

The earliest New Year’s resolutions were made in ancient Babylon almost 4,000 years ago. During Akitu (the spring festival held in the first month of Nisanu in ancient Mesopotamia,), a 12-day New Year celebration, the Babylonians are claimed to have established the ritual. Quite amazing, if you ask me!

It has further religious origins, inspired throughout history like when the Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.

This is my personal favourite: In the medieval era, the knights took the “peacock vow” at the end of the Christmas season each year to reaffirm their commitment to chivalry.

An early instance of the complete phrase “new year resolution” is found in a January 1st issue of a Boston newspaper from 1813:

And yet, I believe there are multitudes of people, accustomed to receiving injunctions of new year resolutions, who will sin all the month of December, with a serious determination of beginning the new year with new resolutions and new behaviour, and with the full belief that they shall thus expiate and wipe away all their former faults.

And the concept of new year’s resolutions boomed when around a quarter of American people made New Year’s resolutions near the conclusion of the Great Depression.

Around 40% did at the dawn of the twenty-first century. According to the American Medical Association, between 40% and 50% of Americans participated in the New Year’s resolution custom in the 1995 Epcot and 1985 Gallop Polls.

A study indicated that participants who made standard New Year’s resolutions (e.g., weight loss, fitness programs, and stopping smoking) were more than ten times more likely to succeed than those who made life changes at other times of the year.

Why make new habits, instead of new resolutions?

If I am to answer this as short as possible, it is because habits stick with you. Your habits literally, become a part of your brain and they stay there. You can depend on your habits.

New years resolutions, on the other hand, are not so dependable in my humble opinion. Many New year resolutions are made and simply forgotten, often because they are made in the heat of the moment or sometimes because we are feeling sad, happy or excited. While that’s okay, it still doesn’t help much if you want to improve.

According to one study, only 46% of people were able to achieve their new year’s resolutions and they could achieve this after 6 consistent months.

In a 2014 report, 35% of participants who failed their New Year’s Resolutions admitted they had unrealistic goals, 33% of participants did not keep track of their progress, and 23% forgot about them; about one in 10 respondents claimed they made too many resolutions.

In a study, focused on people who made new year’s resolutions for losing weight and other various resolutions, no significant differences were obtained in weight change for the factors of resolution or monitoring. Quite simply put, new year’s resolutions seldom work. 

Don’t get me wrong, they do work to an extent, but if I was to bet on new year’s resolutions vs habits, I would go with habits.

We can improve ourselves with habits because our habits require conscious practice rather than simply depending on willpower alone for motivation. And if you know how the habit loop works, you are at an advantage to build new habits. Making a choice to follow a habit, is taking back control into your hands.

The Solution to New Year Resolution

You can start by choosing from some really powerful habits, otherwise known as ‘keystone habits‘. These keystone habits, influence you to develop habits that will aid you in the long run and also motivate you to change your mindset and improve more healthy habits.

Quote: Keystone habits are “small changes or habits that people introduce into their routines that unintentionally carry over into other aspects of their lives” according to Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit.

Best keystone habits to start your new year

Meditation

Meditation is among the greatest of mankind’s discoveries, it has the benefits to calm your mind, bring peace to your soul, and above all, help increase your focus.

Above all, it is a valuable tool to help you with anxiety, pain, depression, and stress reduction. It can even aid you in your new resolutions. How, you might ask?

If you want to quit smoking as a resolution, you just have an idea but no plan. Research has shown that meditation helps with dealing with addiction.

When you get the urge to smoke – cue – instead of your previous routine – of smoking, you can go ahead and meditate instead of smoking, as it will calm your nerves.

If you want to live your life to the fullest, start meditating as it helps you to be aware of the present moment and increases your attention.

Exercise

Exercising was already mentioned as one of the most common resolutions for the new year. So why am I requesting you to exercise? Simply put, exercising as a new year resolution and as a habit, has a difference.

It’s your approach toward the act itself. As explained before, your habits are in your control which means if you choose to exercise, make a plan to exercise at least 2-3 times a week and treat it as a habit.

To do that, identify a time or a place – any cue of your linking –  and then start your preferred form of exercise- your reward. You can start with the basics like push-ups, jumping jacks, running, or a simple walk. Start small and then go big to reap max profits from exercising.

Pro Tip: After your routine exercise, you can reward yourself with a glass of protein-rich juice perhaps, some fruit juice or other healthy reward which can aid you in your journey.

If you want to lose weight, both exercising and the reward of eating something healthy later will aid you in your journey. Instead of losing weight, if your goal is to exercise, the consequence of the action would be dropping some weight and getting fitter.

Simultaneously, if you choose to run, you would eventually get conscious and pay more attention to increasing your stamina, eventually decreasing your smoking or quitting.

Journalling

Journalling is easy, you don’t have to do much. Simply, write your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs in a journal. Yes, that’s all you need to do.

Writing down our thoughts and feelings will allow you to get a clear and better understanding of yourself. Add to that, it will help you with stress reduction and handling negative emotions.

If you wish to manage your financial goals, you can write down your budget. Break down your needs, wants, and savings. Further, you can write down why you think you should spend a certain amount on a need or want to get an insight into your decision-making process.

This will allow you to make the necessary changes if need be, in your financial habits.

You can even create a schedule and denote a certain time in a day to spend more time with your family.

Journaling will also allow you to get more organized, by creating a routine for yourself and adhering to it devoutly.

Reading

Again, everyone wants to start reading, and it is one of the most common new year’s resolutions, partly because reading has great benefits. Same as before, think of reading as a habit to start and stick to it.

Decide a place or time(your cue), and then follow your reading routine and give yourself a reward, after doing so. This will reinforce positively your habit to read.

Pro Tip: Start by reading at least 1 page a day at your preferred time, preferably before going to bed. Don’t overwhelm yourself, increase the number of pages gradually. It takes time to build new habits, but once made, they will stay with you.

Reading allows us to empathize with people on a better note. This ability to empathize allows us to build, navigate and maintain our social relationships. If you want to build better relationships or spend more time with your family proactively, reading can be of help.

Conclusion to the new year’s resolutions problem

Each year is an opportunity to evolve, improve and be better than who you were last year. Eminem once emphasized, in his song ‘Lose Yourself’, that if you have got an opportunity, you have got to take it, instead of just letting it go.

This new year, it’s your opportunity to reach new heights and be the person you want to be by choosing appropriate habits.

To build highly effective habits, I would recommend reading, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. If you want to start a reading habit, it’s better to start with this.

What’s better, to make a resolution for the sake of it or to choose a habit and consciously work on it?

So, what will be your new year habit? Comment below!

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/when-did-new-years-resolutions-start

https://www.newsweek.com/new-years-resolution-2022-meaning-origin-ideas-1662947

https://www.cnet.com/health/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions-and-celebrations/

https://www.goskills.com/Soft-Skills/Resources/Top-10-new-years-resolutions

https://www.trafalgar.com/real-word/history-new-years-resolutions/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11920693/

http://www.sahajayogaportal.org/papers/whymeditation.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.2161-1874.2011.tb00207.x

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=4552&ContentTypeID=1

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4128180/