Why I Do Not Make New Year’s Resolutions

Next year I will be healthier. Next year I will improve my mental well-being. Next year I will not spend as much money on unnecessary things. Next year I will exercise more. Next year I will reduce stress. Next year will be better.

These are some samples of typical New Year’s resolutions. I bet you had the one or the other last year. However, I stopped making them some time ago. There are several reasons why I decided for myself to stop this western hemisphere tradition.

Waste Of Time

Why spending time and energy on thinking of New Year’s resolutions? It is a forced act and you are under pressure to find at least three resolutions by midnight. Why putting yourself under pressure just to write down five sentences on a piece of paper, which, to be honest, you probably will lose anyway in a week. You could spend your time enjoying the fireworks with family and friends instead.

Are Not Working

There are many ways to explain why New Year’s resolutions rarely work. On the one hand, we tend to make too many and therefore, we either forget them or there is purely an overflow of resolutions and we are unable to keep them all in mind. On the other hand, we do not work hard enough to actually achieve them. This may arise from the fact, that we often adopt resolutions from other people and are too lazy to figure out our own ones.

No Motivation

The problem here is that we are not committing enough to our resolutions as they usually lack a personal relation or meaning. It is really hard and also almost a mission impossible to stay motivated an entire year to something which does not relate to you.

Bad Timing

In the first half of January I have my exams and obviously, there is not time left to focus on my resolutions. I am stressed about the upcoming tests, about the time I still have left and dealing with learning. And my little spare time left I mostly spend relaxing or doing sports in order to step back from all the textbooks, paragraphs and law texts.

Better Forget About Making New Year’s Resolution…

…and focus instead on your goals and ambition during the whole year. There is no point in becoming fixated on some half-hearted sentences scribbled on a scrap of paper. Instead, make sure that you try to pursue your own personal aims through the year.

Nevertheless, New Year’s resolution or not, I am wishing you all Happy New Year and at this point thank you for all your support and we will see us in 2016 again!

Take care,