Why New Years Resolutions Are a Waste of Time
When I was a little girl, I used to hear the words “new year’s resolution” on TV every January and was confused about what that meant. What is this thing called “new year’s resolution”? Was I supposed to have one too? What happens if I don’t have one? I pondered these questions every January every time I heard that statement on TV. Then I felt a little left out because I did not have a resolution.
As I got a little older, I started getting really annoyed with all the weight watchers and other weight management advertisements that used to bombard my TV every single January, February, and March. I started to correlate the concept of losing weight as being everyone’s new year’s resolution. Ah, so that’s what a new year’s resolution is all about: Every January you make the decision that you need to lose weight and get fit and healthy.
Now that I am older, I have come to the conclusion that new year’s resolutions are worthless and, more likely than not, set you up for failure. That is why you find yourself repeating every year your new year’s resolution. Most people make a resolution(s) and decide that in the new year they aspire to accomplish X. The problem with that is people make this blanket goal, statement, declaration, resolution, what have you, and hope that somehow it will magically occur.
If you are going to make a resolution or a goal, come up with an action plan on how you will achieve it. Break it down to the tiniest detail. Convert that action plan into small habits and stay faithful to them daily. Do not think about the big picture. Just worry about winning your day. Simply having a new year’s resolution is just a nebulous idea that comes and goes.
Why wait for January? If you know you have a problem or something you want to accomplish, start TODAY. Don’t wait to make a declaration, resolution, or a goal (however you want to think of your resolution) on January 1st. January comes and goes once every 12 months and there is no guarantee you will see the next January.
If something is important to you, treat it with urgency, and don’t waste time. Every day is an opportunity to accomplish your resolution. Seize the day, not the year.
Your health and losing weight are urgent. The best time to commit to a healthier, thinner happier you is today, right now, this very second. Not January!
Break it down to habits such as:
- Do high intense interval training with weights for 15 minutes three times a week
- Read food labels and pay attention to what I am eating
- Take a walk and get some free vitamin D from the sun
- Eat less fast food and cook more
- I will not eat dinner past 6 pm, etc.…
As for me, I still don’t have any new year’s resolutions and I am not longer perplexed by them like I used to be. I think they are silly. I do not have a new yea’s resolution; I have daily resolutions. I believe in seizing my day.
