New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work and Here’s Why

New Year’s Resolutions are a secular tradition. A person promises themselves to embark on a mission of self-improvement, or simply promises to be more civil with nice gestures such as picking up their dog’s poo as soon as the New Year starts.  I say, hey why not start right away ?

Forget those New Year’s resolutions. Want to quit or reduce smoking, drinking, start working out? Want to start eating healthy, working less, reduce, re-use, recycle, give up your seat bus to elders, pay more attention to your family and loved ones? Watch less TV?

Want to give yourself a boost and get back on track? Been feeling sluggish, and life seems dull? New Year’s Resolutions aren’t going to do it.

This mass-induced ritual of self-betterment, that we embrace with the entrance of a New Year, is a futile gesture considering most people will not stick to the program they’ve set out for themselves. 

Studies showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail.

Often the program is unrealistic, and part of the reason that most people postpone it to the New Year is that they want to keep partaking in their old habits, be they good or bad, for as long as possible. In this manner, resolutions become sacrifices.

Resolutions are about self-betterment, about shedding old baggage and all that stuff that apparently prevents us from being our best, and from achieving our full potential.

This lady says it well…LIFE IS THE GAME WE PLAY

I believe, beyond any reasonable doubt, that in order to reach our full potential and give birth to OUR SELVES, we need to embrace our madness. We need to not care what others think or say about us, we need to stay true to ourselves against all odds. Simply put, it means you need to listen to your inner voice. Which one, you might ask, there are several.

If you pay attention, you will be able to distinguish your own inner voice from the voices of your elders, society, friends, peers and colleagues, the church, and the media. Your voice will stand out amongst all of that caucus that lives inside your head. 

Chase out all those voices that don’t belong to you, all those voices leading you astray, that tell you you’ll never make it, that you’re too fat, too young, too old, too tall, too small, your skin too dark, that your ideas are stupid. Chase them all away and embrace yourself, embrace your madness. 

No matter how crazy your ideas may sound, even to you, go for it! So instead of wasting time making a list of resolutions, you won’t keep, why not start thinking on your feet? Why not do something to stimulate your blood flow and get your juices flowing. Somewhere in there, if we dig deep enough we all have some crazy ideas, and these very ideas may be the key to harnessing our full potential and freeing us from boredom and a life afloat in dullness and repetition.

Embracing your madness means harnessing your passions and creating something from nothing.

Here’s a couple of ridiculous ideas that made these guys a fortune.

“Back in the 70’s some guy bought a bunch of stones from a builder’s supply store, packaged them in cardboard boxes with holes (so the rocks could “breathe”), and marketed them as serious “pets”. For a production cost of less than a dollar, Dahl sold each rock for $3.95. And sell them he did. By Christmas of 1975, pet rocks were all the rage.  As for Dahl, his aptly-named Rock Bottom Productions was rolling over…. in profits.”

IFart App has Ridiculously Rich Person Behind It: Joel Comm. Estimated Profit:  $400K Somewhere, in Joel Comm’s unique mind, the iFart was conceived, the whoopee cushion for the iPhone.  What’s even crazier? He thought people would pay for the app.  iFart retails for 99 cents, and the absolutely insane part about this all is that Joel Comm was right.

The more you define who you are, the more you unleash your potential.

Who cares how much you weigh and how many followers you have.  As new adventures enter your life, you will come into your own new skin as you shed old habits. The best part is you don’t have to wait for New Year’s eve to do so, and it doesn’t have to be a million-dollar idea. 

It can simply be getting off your butt right now, picking up the phone, and getting something in motion. Doing that thing that has been nagging at you for some time. Get involved with people and make things happen, small projects that can benefit many, simply by creating a common goal, and playing together to make it happen. 

Self-improvement is a full-time activity and requires healthy doses of feeling good about ourselves, very different from what people are usually feeling when they make resolutions.

If you absolutely must stay true to tradition then here’s one bit of advice. Resolutions are more sustainable when shared, both in terms of with whom you share the benefits of your resolution, and with whom you share the path of maintaining your resolution. Peer support will increase your chances of actually sticking to your New Year’s Resolution.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and remember to EMBRACE YOUR MADNESS!