New Year Resolutions
What is it about the New Year that makes us start to consider what we should resolve to do to make ourselves better, richer and healthier? And, make no mistake, there is absolutely nothing wrong in setting goals and striving to do things that will improve your life. But none of this happens overnight and more often than not, our resolutions fit an ideal of what we think we should be. They are rarely realistic and they rarely involve small changes. January 1st has become the arbitrary date when we start the challenge to become better people – the self we want to be….
It was the ancient Babylonians that are credited with making the first New Year Resolutions some 4000 years ago. This was a March celebration linked to when they planted their crops and an event that lasted for 12 days. The key focus of this event was to reaffirm their loyalty to the King and make promises to their Gods. If they kept their promises – they would receive favours.
For early Christians, the first day of the New Year became an occasion for thinking about one’s past mistakes and resolving to be better in the future.
Nowadays News Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day has changed to be a day of celebrating hope and promise without the religious connotation. For many of us – it is a chance to say Goodbye to the Year that was and reflect on things both good and bad. We make our resolutions as promises to ourselves rather than any Gods or Kings and these tend to focus on achieving our goals and aspirations. They tend to be aspirational in nature and the “how to” is very rarely incorporated into the plan.
Getting healthy, losing weight are not small things – they involve substantial changes to our habits and require lots of self-motivation. Because they are inward focussed, we are more likely to give up on them and re-prioritise our focus of attention. It is estimated that a mere 8% of resolutions made will see any degree of success or completion.
However – what if we look at our New Year resolutions in a different way? What if we stop making New Year Resolutions about OURSELVES and resolve to do things for other people? Will we be more motivated to keep our promises?
So – instead of trying to lose weight, become more successful and be super-fit – let’s think about goals in other areas of our lives. How about a resolution like:
- Playing a game with my son/daughter at least once a week
- Doing something to make my partner smile every day
- Giving a friend or family member a baby-sitting pass every month
- Treating my colleagues kindly and being more patient
Re-focusing your goals for the benefit of someone else will impact very positively on your own life too.
