Why your New Year's resolutions will probably fail

Every year, my family and I climb to the top of a nearby hill to see in the New Year. We take a multi-shot firework and hot drinks with us.

From the top of the hill, we can see 25 miles in every direction and, on the stroke of midnight, the horizon lights up with the multi-coloured flashes of hundreds of firework displays. As we set off our own firework, it is as though we are joining with thousands of strangers in the joyful hope that this year will be different to the last.

Deep down we all know that a mere change of date will make no difference at all to our daily lives but hope is one of the unique qualities that humans were created with. 

Perhaps that is why millions of us make New Year’s resolutions. A corporate act of defiance in the face of the seemingly inevitable. A declaration that there can be “more than this” and an acceptance of our own responsibility for the way things are.

I love the doggedness of the human spirit that keeps us making resolutions despite the fact that very few of them ever materialise. But wouldn’t it be great if more of our resolutions became a daily reality?

The truth is that most of our resolutions - Lose weight, get fit, learn to salsa, earn passive income, learn Spanish etc. are just wishes. They are a recognition of things we would like to have or to do, which is a good thing, but there is no plan attached to them. The “what” is there but where is the “How”?

The simple act of breaking down your wishes (What) into manageable chunks (How), can dramatically increase your chances of success.

So instead of “Lose weight”, make your New Year’s resolution “I will lose 2 Kilos by avoiding sugar and alcohol for 60 days.” Instead of “Earn passive income”, make it “I will earn passive income by adding one new product per week to my Etsy store.” Instead of “Learn Spanish”, make it “I will become fluent in Spanish by spending 10 minutes every day on DuoLingo (or your language app of choice)”

There are other ways of maximising your chances of success like making yourself accountable to someone you trust and visualising your progress in a way that makes if feel like a game but we can save those for another post.

For now, go ahead and make your New Year’s resolutions but turn them from wishes into plans by specifying the “How”.