It seems like New Year’s resolutions have become a thing of the past. When I’ve asked friends and family if they made a resolution, one of the most common answers to the question is “I resolved not to make any New Year’s resolutions.”
That comment is frequently followed up with an assertion that resolutions are just made to be broken anyway. That may be true. A little research shows that New Year’s Resolutions truly are something from the far distant past. The custom apparently originated with the ancient Babylonians who made promises to their gods to return borrowed objects and to pay their debts.
I wonder if they had any better luck at keeping those promises than those of us who make New Year’s resolutions in modern times. A quote by one of my favorite authors, Mark Twain, shows that the disillusionment with New Year’s resolutions started in the late 1800s. Twain wrote, “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”
However, another iconic American figure, songwriter Woody Guthrie, believed New Year’s resolutions were important. A copy of Guthrie’s 1942 resolutions was published recently— all 33 of them. The list includes resolutions practical and profound, such as: Work more and better; drink very scant, if any; wear clean clothes— look good; listen to radio a lot, don’t get lonesome, dream good, bank all extra money, have company, but don’t waste time, love everybody, write a song every day and finally wake up and fight.
Knowing Guthrie and his music, I would say he was successful with at least some of his resolutions. But according to a recent study done by the University of Pennsylvania, Scranton, Twain was actually right. We aren’t very good at keeping our resolutions.
The Scranton study seems valid to me, based on what it has recorded as the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for 2014: 1) Lose weight; 2) Get organized, 3) Spend less, save more, 4) Enjoy life to the fullest, 5) Stay fit and healthy, 6) Learn something exciting, 7) Quit smoking, 8) Help others in their dreams, 9) Fall in love and 10) Spend more time with family.
That sounds like resolutions I’ve made in the past or heard others declare they would fulfill in the year ahead. Unfortunately, the University of Pennsylvania declares that only 8 percent of the people who make New Year’s resolutions are successful. Further research by the university declares that time is the enemy of New Year’s resolutions.
Resolutions maintained through the first week? 75 percent. That’s not too bad.
After two weeks, the success rate falls to 71 percent. After a month, our resolve has fallen to 64 percent and by six months, only 46 percent of the folks who had made New Year’s resolutions were still working toward their goal. A bit depressing, isn’t it?
Sorry about that, dear reader. Perhaps I should have just said that I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution this year and left it at that. It isn’t that there aren’t many things I should and could change about my life. It’s just that I didn’t get around to picking a resolution and writing it down. But now that I think about it, two weeks into the New Year when the resolve to achieve resolutions is fading, I realize I do have a goal.
I invite you to share it with me. I think together we could beat the hard statistics of failure. I think it is a resolution that is achievable. Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to pledge to give up television or run a marathon or be kind to crabby people or the most unreachable of all goals—get organized.
No, my New Year’s resolution is to start writing 2014 instead of 2013. Wish me luck!
May all your troubles last as long as
your New Year’s resolutions.
Joey Adams
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