Making Resolutions Means You Are Contemplating, Now, to Maintain Them!
Our common belief is that resolutions made at the beginning of the New Year usually fail, so why make them? As James Prochaska was fond of saying, intending to change and changing are not the same thing. Yet isn’t setting good intentions a good thing?
Setting Intentions
Setting intentions means you are considering a change. You are, in fact contemplating, weighing the pros and cons of going ahead with your intentions. One of the reasons often cited for the failure of following though and maintaining New Year’s Resolutions is that they are not well thought out. (https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/leadreadtoday/why-most-new-years-resolutions-fail) There is real value to a process of considering how the change we want to see can take place. Planning, effective goal setting, taking stock of one’s strengths, assets and resources and gathering support are all part of both contemplating change and preparing for it.
According to a new Pew Research Center survey three-in-ten Americans report making at least one resolution this year. (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/29/new-years-resolutions-who-makes-them-and-why/) Their survey found that 79% of the people surveyed say their resolutions concerned their health. And, interestingly, a Forbes Health Poll (https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/new-years-resolutions-statistics/) showed that while 48% of people say improving fitness is a top priority in 2024, 36% cite improved mental health as a top resolution. If managing stress was considered as a way of improving mental health this is quite understandable.
Setting intentions, making resolutions can be a good place to start but how do we translate them into sustained action that allows us to maintain improvements to our health and wellbeing? Survey show various stats but all of them show tremendous drop off for maintaining resolutions after the first three months. This supports everyone’s observation at your local fitness center when you want to go in and get access to the equipment. Wait in line from January to March, then waltz right in and be able to use whatever you want, right? 
Learning from Why Most Resolutions Fail
Making a resolution can be fun. There’s the hope of a fresh start, turning a new leaf, a clean slate! In fact you may get a little high out of it. “When you set a resolution and begin to follow through on it, you trigger a very powerful “neuro-hormone” in the brain called dopamine.Dopamine helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers and regulates emotional responses. Though dopamine levels are high as you set out to accomplish your resolution, they eventually drop.
‘If you don't have a structure in place to keep you motivated, the behavior you are engaging in will tend to trail off,’ he says” (https://www.piedmont.org/living-real-change/why-do-people-make-new-years-resolutions)
Sometimes folks are victims of their own false hope, fueled with overconfidence they set unrealistic goals that only frustrate the person.
A large-scale experiment on resolutions (n= 1066) by Oscarsson, et.al, also found that you can be more successful with “approach-oriented goals” – ones where you are positively working towards a new behavior rather than “avoidance-oriented goals”. (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0234097)
A blog(https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/leadreadtoday/why-most-new-years-resolutions-fail) from the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University
outlined four reasons why people tend to fail with their New Year’s resolutions:
- Goals should start at a time of change.Is a date set by ancient Romans (our current calendar) really of significance to you right now?Motivation is probably higher when there is greater awareness of a need for change.
- Failure to anticipate obstacles.In health and wellness coaching it is incredibly helpful to explore the “what if’s” of change.If I make this change, what can I already predict could be some challenges that would have to be met?
- Failure to set goals into challenging, measured but smaller chunks.More challenging goals actually can provide more motivation to reach them.This might require determining what will be just the right level of challenge to provide motivation but not be discouraging. Breaking goals down into doable action steps that we can keep track of is a standard process in good coaching.
- “Studies show that people who not only write their goals but set up a way to be accountable for them will be twice as likely to achieve them.”And as the piece goes on to say: “There are four ways you can set accountability: tell a friend, create or join an accountability group, use technology, like setting measured milestones on an electronic calendar, or hire a coach.”
In our Real Balance Health Coach Training (https://realbalance.com) I am always teaching coaches to Coach for Connectedness Maintaining your resolutions may come down to the degree and nature of support that you receive. The study by Oscarsson, et.al, also found that for New Year’s resolutions that those who received some support were “exclusively and significantly” more successful than those who received extended support. Perhaps it may be better to share your resolutions with a few trusted individuals than to put it out there on social media!
Resolutions CAN be Successful and Last
Perhaps that most heartening about the Oscarsson study was to know that “At a one-year follow-up, 55% of responders considered themselves successful in sustaining their resolutions.” So, go ahead. Make your New Year’s Resolutions, just be conscious about the process, take some time to contemplate, plan, and gather the right amount of support for you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Michael Arloski, Ph.D., PCC, NBC-HWC is CEO and Founder of Real Balance Health Coach Training (https://realbalance.com/). Doctor Arloski is a psychologist, coach and pioneering architect of the field of health and wellness coaching. He and his company have trained thousands of coaches around the world.
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