"Every January, we tell ourselves some version of the same story: This is the year I finally get it together. We resolve to eat better, work harder, stress less, be more disciplined, more focused, more everything. For a brief moment, it can feel hopeful. Like a fresh start. And then life happens. By February, many resolutions have already fallen apart. The gym visits taper off. The strict routines become unsustainable. What's left behind is often not motivation, but guilt."
"The problem may not be us. It may be the way we're trying to change. Traditional New Year's resolutions tend to be rigid and outcome-focused. They rely heavily on willpower and assume our future selves will somehow have more energy, time, and self-control than our present ones. Decades of research on self-regulation tell us that willpower is limited, especially under stress (Baumeister et al., 1998). In other words, resolutions are most likely to fail precisely when life gets hard."
New Year's Eve represents a formal threshold and opportunity for change. Many people abandon traditional resolutions after initial hope fades and routines prove unsustainable. Resolutions typically emphasize sweeping outcomes—eat better, work harder, stress less—but frequently collapse by February, leaving guilt instead of motivation. Traditional resolutions rely heavily on willpower and presume future selves will have more energy, time, and self-control. Self-regulation research shows willpower is limited, especially under stress. All-or-nothing framing magnifies shame after lapses and undermines sustained behavior change. A more flexible, process-focused approach to goals may improve success and engagement.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]