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Do New Years Resolutions work? Here’s what the science says:
Whether you agree with them or not, over the past week most of us have heard someone's New Year's Resolutions. Aunty Helen has pledged to lose 5Kg (although she has been saying this every year for the past 10 years). Cousin George wants to quit smoking again (but for real this time!). And your niece wants to reduce her time on Tik Tok by an hour, now down to only 11 hours per day!
So, back to the real question: Do New Years Resolutions work? There are a lot of studies out there and although the statistics vary slightly, the answer is pretty unanimous.
Yes. And no. It depends.
In general, it seems that new years resolutions usually fail. However, when you compare new years resolutions to goals set any other time of year, they tend to be more successful. As well as this, if you set your new years resolutions in a certain way and apply a few simple tips, the chances of you being in the ‘successful’ group sky rocket!
So here are 5 tips that will boost your chance of jumping the fence from Aunty Helens back yard of repeated New Year's resolutions, into the fresh green pastures of Resolution Success.
1) Approach vs Avoidance
When you drive a car - The car follows where your eyes are looking. That’s why when we’re learning to drive, our Dads constantly shout ‘Keep your eyes on the road!’. This is the same in many things - When you squat, if you look down, you’ll often find yourself tipping forwards. If you look slightly upwards, your torso will follow and correct this issue.
A study in Switzerland in 2020 also found this to be true for New Years Resolutions. Part of this study compared those with ‘Approach’ driven goals, which usually begin with ‘I will…’ (for example, I will lose weight) to those with ‘Avoidance’ driven goals, which usually begin with ‘I will stop…’ (for example, I will stop eating cookies).
This study found that those with ‘Approach’ driven goals were significantly more successful than those with ‘Avoidance’ driven goals. Just as the car follows where the eyes are looking, our mind will follow where our goals are aiming. If we are constantly thinking about ‘Not’ doing something, like eating cookies, eventually when life gets tough and we’re stressed, we’re far more likely to binge and often eat even more cookies overall than if we had not set the goals at all!
2) Support
The same 2020 study in Switzerland also compared those with some support via monthly follow ups, tips and exercises, compared to those with no support at all. It’s no surprise that those with support and regular check-ins were considerably more successful than those without any support.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you have to go hire a professional every month to check in on you! A support person can be your partner, a family member, or even a friend. Here are a few tips to finding a good support person:
Someone who is free of judgment
A positive person
Someone you trust and respect
Someone you don’t want to let down
3) The Magic Question
When I first heard about this tip, I was sceptical. It sounds airy fairy, fluffy, and to be honest… like a load of BS. But since then I’ve tried it myself and have begun to understand how this simple tip can make a huge difference.
The tip is best explained through an example. If your goal is to go for a walk every day, every morning ask yourself this magic question: Will you go for a walk today?
Then, you must only give a yes or no answer, no explanation.
Here’s why this is so helpful. When you’re trying to make a real change, you aren’t just changing your actions: You’re fundamentally changing who you are as a person. In this example, you aren’t just going for a walk each day, you’re becoming the type of person who exercises regularly. This is ESSENTIAL in making long term changes.
When you ask yourself this question each morning, you’re given the chance to cast a vote. You can vote to remain the same person you’ve always been, or you can cast your vote to becoming the type of person who exercises regularly. Once you’ve decided, your answer usually becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
It’s important to answer with a yes or no only. This eliminates any chance for you to explain your way out of the action or make excuses.
4) Habits - The Four Laws of Behaviour Change
Every one of us has habits. If you think about the evolutionary purpose of habits, they allow us to perform mundane tasks automatically, while freeing up our mental bandwidth to think about and process something else. Habits are the systems that we’ve built (either intentionally or unintentionally) that we fall upon when life gets hard.
You don’t rise to the level of your goals; You fall to the level of your systems or habits. It’s great having big goals to shoot for, but when life gets tough, your back’s against the wall and motivation is nowhere to be seen, it’s the habits you have in place that will determine whether you move forwards or backwards. This is why goals are great, but they are nothing without real behavior change.
To squeeze the whole topic of habit forming into a few paragraphs would be a disservice to how complex and important this topic is, so instead we will be doing another blog post on habits in the coming weeks. But for now, here are the 4 laws of behaviour change when trying to form new habits, made popular by James Clears book Atomic Habits (great read):
Cues - Make it obvious.
Craving - Make is attractive.
Response - Make it easy.
Reward - Make it satisfying.
Keep an eye out for our next blog to hear more details about how to apply these laws to real life and start forming long term habits that will actually stick forever.
5) Build Your Why
We’ve spoken about this many times before, and we’ll continue to speak about it again and again. Building a strong and compelling why may not be helpful in January, but by the time June & July roll around, motivation is at an all time low, it’s the strength of your why that will help you carry on.
Here’s a quick exercise to strengthen your why. Start with what you think your current why is. Then, ask yourself ‘but why?’ Repeat this 5 times. Here’s what that might look like:
Iteration 1) To lose weight. But why?
Iteration 2) To feel fit and healthy, like I used to. But why?
Iteration 3) So that my kids actually look up to me. But why?
Iteration 4) To lead by example and show my kids the importance of good health. But why?
Iteration 5) Because I would do anything to help my kids be healthier and happier.
If we compare iteration 1 to iteration 5, I know which ‘why’ would make me get out of bed in a cold morning!
difference.
We would love to hear what your New Year's Resolutions are, and to let you know what we think of them! If you want a chat about how to make the most of this years resolutions, flick us an email at Mel@thepridenz.com or Samu@thepridenz.com.
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