Welcome to 2025. The year that promises to be a wild one. We have seen in history that the association with being a quarter of the way into a new century heralds expectations of movement towards the full expectations of that century. In the 1800s this was automations of labour; in the 1900s the car and expansion of human transport was in full swing.
This new millennium has proven to be the age of technology, and more specifically, the advent of things that are supposed to help humans through, well, automation and expansion of the reach of technology into our lives. As we pave the information superhighway with spam made by bots, we also now are trying to build walkable cities and recognize the value of ‘handmade’ or quality craftsmanship which were seemingly lost in the previous centuries when they were overtaken by the aforementioned technologies. Maybe there’s a glimmer of hope in that?
Mastication on a dystopian future aside, as we have just clicked over into this new year we should probably talk about resolutions. The types of resolutions we make are actually a relatively recent phenomenon, but are definitely based in historical precedent.
To be clear, resolutions are not new. The Babylonians had the Akitu Festival, which was an 11 day new year ceremony that happened in late March under the first new moon after the Spring Equinox. This was a celebration of the rebirth of the sun god, Marduk, in which these folks made promises to stay on the right side of the sun god and all other gods they worshiped.
After this Julius Caesar, (the Roman guy, not the salad guy), introduced the Julian calendar to sync the calendar with the sun, which included dedicating January 1 as the start of the new year. And to honour the god of new beginnings, named Janus (where the name January comes from), they would offer sacrifices to this god with the promise of good things when they did.
So, now we’re here. We’ve continued the form of sacrifice or offering in one form or another through the history of humans up until we were swearing to eat better, exercise more and get the promotion at work to better our lives through the suffering of avoidance, denial or more effort.
We tend to set goals that address a perceived need that we have been resistant to changing. That means the goals we set are often lofty and setting that mark of success well past our normal operation or means. Not unachievable, per se – but usually something that would take sustained extraordinary effort to reach.
These are often based on a temporal milestone where we state that by a date of significance we want the variable we’ve chosen to be different, Lost X kgs, done Y in sales by X date, hiked this trail by X date, etc. But also we can make the variable specific to the goal, like losing X pounds – though this usually is bound within the calendar year, thus being temporal in nature by top-down view. (1)
So how, then?
When we look at how people tend to set goals, we can see in research that most people tend to bomb out of their resolutions within the first month. (2, 3, 5)
Common notes in the research suggested that people who set approach-oriented goals were more successful than those that set avoidance-oriented goals, especially in the first month. (1)
When participants were given assistance and support through the process, as was done in some of the studies (1 and 3), they tended to have better outcomes than those that did not have support. And to that end, one study found that after six months the supported people were significantly more likely to still be on track (2). Support for people could be the assistance of one of the researchers or resources that they provide or it could be another person – what we would call an “accountability buddy” today.
Another predictably beneficial variable was the participant’s level of preparedness to undertake a goal-oriented task. If a person was ready for a change and had the willpower to endure the ‘slips’ (2, 3) then they were most likely to make it past the one month mark and beyond.
The final trick that helped people was getting information or education on how to set realistic goals.
So let’s use this information to talk about your resolutions that you’ve already set and are working on – or that you planned to get to at the ding of the midnight bell on New Year’s Day.
- What is the goal? Some things to think about:
- Make it realistic for your needs.
You can actually make it more nebulous by building in a range. Adding a word like “some” or a range like “2-3 times this month” can be really helpful in not setting a goal that’s unattainable because it’s too rigid. - Again, make it realistic!
While Google will batter you with results that say you can lose 50-100lbs in a year, is that realistic? Not for most people, actually. If you feel like you have to lose X lbs, first of all note that putting a number on it creates that rigidity we just talked about*. So think about “some” again. So try and set a goal set around feeling better in X months, or being able to do something better, like a hike that you find hard. These are attainable! - Oh my god, (Janus? Marduk?), make it realistic!!
If your goal doesn’t respect your current schedule and ability, you’re going to need to make accommodations. And that’s where the idea of ‘ready for the change’ comes into play. If you’re not ready to change your schedule to accommodate, or go to a place to accommodate, you’re immediately setting yourself up for disappointment. So if it is working out (and let’s be honest, that’s what we’re talking about…), then you need to have something that you can do at home first to get into the habit before escalating to going to a new place to do the activity. - Make it breakable.
A big goal that can be broken up into mile markers that you can achieve is a great way to keep motivation and create the opportunity for multiple successes along the way.
So what’s an example? You want to work out more. Maybe you want weight loss or muscle growth, but let’s set the first goal for this year to be working out more – because you know those changes in habits will elicit desired outcomes later.
- Make it realistic for your needs.
- We got a goal! OK, let’s do this:
Great – now we’ve decided that “working out more” is the general premise. How do we start to make this happen? Setting another goal around doing 1 workout per week at home can be reasonable, if you have an accountability partner of some sort. This doesn’t even have to be a human. A calendar or habit-tracker can be of use here.
Or – if you’re interested – you can always check out our Monthly Training Program. It’s a 3x per week 30 min bodyweight program that you can do at home or wherever you want, and it’s affordable. Every month there’s a new theme, and pep-talks along the way to help you understand what you’re doing. Each day of exercise has GIFs, videos, sets, reps and suggestions so that you have support.
If you’re just starting out, doing one of the workouts per week is a great start, and just seeing what you can fit in. Once that’s established, you can add another. The key is to make it seem almost too easy, because if it becomes hard then you’re more prone to slip out of the habit that you’re forming!
Even if you don’t go with our option, the structure described works pretty well. So find something that works for you and add it incrementally to your schedule. Chances are you will start to find other things that can be excised from the schedule if this becomes important to you. - Enjoy the ride.
Really focus on the good that you feel after getting your first workout in. Celebrate it intrinsically if you can. Journal or talk to someone about how you’re feeling about the experience, and make sure that you have the next one scheduled so that you can continue on the rush of dopamine that you’ve earned!
So all in all, the crux of the issue is all about setting realistic goals that you are willing to pursue, ready to accomplish and educated and supported with. Once you’ve set the end goal, your next job is to break it into sub-goals that walk you towards your end goal. Think of it like a recipe – your goal is cookies, but the first sub goal is to make sure you have a recipe you like, your next sub goal is to make sure you have the necessary ingredients, then you can actually start the baking process, which in and of itself can be broken down into sub goals like laying out all the equipment and ingredients, mixing the wet ingredients, mixing the dry ingredients, and then combining them. You get the idea. Also I don’t know how to make cookies, please just take the example at face value to illustrate the point, or – alternatively – submit a good gluten free cookie recipe to our email.
A final thought about this is the industry standard of promoting the “lack” identity. The basic idea of this is that you’re not good enough and whatever the ad or influencer is saying or showing is the way that you will gain what you lack. As the research suggests, that’s more of an ‘avoidance-based’ approach that sets you up for failure. The people that you see doing those push ups so effortlessly telling you that you can do it if you just follow their instructions are belying the reality that they do this for a living and thus probably have spent days of hours getting to a point that the movement or outcome they’re selling is reasonable. And for them it may be. But that doesn’t always translate for you, and can leave you feeling pretty bad that you don’t have what they have at some level. These types of things are great for sales because they prey on your human instinct to attain goals society sets as high marks, which can lead to sales for them – but even if you don’t buy – you can feel worse just for being exposed to the idea.
The theory of sales and marketing that is prevalent is that of “solving a problem”, but many companies have figured out that if they can suggest a nebulous problem or create the idea of an existential issue in your mind that you will not have any other option but to buy or use the service that they are suggesting as the answer. If you control the question, you can control the answer – or something like that. And we don’t believe that your view of your health should be something based on this lack mentality. You’re coming from a good place if you are looking to improve your health overall, but believing that something can provide results quickly and solve all of your problems may not align with that sense of good. (Small plug here: That’s why we always promote the journey. We truly understand and have seen that the changes that you make that are small but long term will better your life in ways that quick changes simply do not.)
So, some resilience that we can apply here is to look at goal setting with more pragmatism. Rather than a nebulous want that we assign a number to – like thinking “I don’t feel good about myself – I should lose X pounds.” We can start to allay those negative thoughts by setting a goal that is both realistic and positive, like “I want to start moving more by doing 1 workout per week to start with, and then I’ll try to add more if that feels good.” The latter may sound wishy-washy to some, but the research shows that these types of statements can actually lead to more long-term change because they act more gently upon your life, nervous system and psyche. In the book Atomic Habits, author James Clear puts a big emphasis on making goals obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying.
In the end, that’s what we want for you. To be successful by improving your resilience while still having fun and progressing. You know – the 3 waves of our philosophy!
Cited Articles:
1
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7725288/
Resolutions are often based on a temporal milestone. A birthday, New Year’s, A vacation or event.
After 1 year, 55% of the cohort of over 1000 respondents suggested (self-assessed) that they had achieved an outcome that was acceptable to their desire.
The key to those that had succeeded was a ‘reasonable’ goal.
Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals.
People that receive support from outside sources are more successful than those who don’t.
Divided into 3 groups – no support, some support, and more support.
More support got exposed to literature and advice about SMART goal setting, interim goals and the benefits of what they were doing. This helped them succeed.
Though published in the NIH’s National Library of Medicine (USA) in 2020, this is a Swedish Study started in 2016.
Oscarsson M, Carlbring P, Andersson G, Rozental A. A large-scale experiment on New Year’s resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals. PLoS One. 2020 Dec 9;15(12):e0234097. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234097. PMID: 33296385; PMCID: PMC7725288.
2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2980864/
Study of 200 people in 1988.
Followed them for 2 years.
77% successful after 1 week, only 19% after 2 years.
Success = better stimulus control, reinforcement, willpower
Social support + interpersonal strategies were more helpful after 6 months.
53% experienced a ‘slip’ along the way, most averaging 14 over 2 years.
Slips precipitated by lack of personal control, stress, and negative emotions.
Norcross JC, Vangarelli DJ. The resolution solution: longitudinal examination of New Year’s change attempts. J Subst Abuse. 1988-1989;1(2):127-34. doi: 10.1016/s0899-3289(88)80016-6. PMID: 2980864.
3
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2728957/
Study of 213 people in 1989 studying the coping processes and self-reported outcomes of people making NYs resolutions.
Participants were given 14 coping strategies prior to start and interviewed about these in subsequent phone interviews.
Readiness to change and self-efficacy were more predictive of outcome after 1 week and 1 month.
Successful resolvers had less self-blame and wishful thinking.
Norcross JC, Ratzin AC, Payne D. Ringing in the new year: the change processes and reported outcomes of resolutions. Addict Behav. 1989;14(2):205-12. doi: 10.1016/0306-4603(89)90050-6. PMID: 2728957.
4
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11920693/
2002 study of cohorts of New years resolves (n=159) vs nonresolvers who wanted to change a problem later (n=123) controlled for demographics, histories or behavioural goals.
Resolvers reported higher rate of success at 6 months (46% for resolvers, 4% for nonresolvers).
Self-efficacy, skills to change and readiness for change all predicted positive outcomes for resolvers.
Successful resolvers employed more cognitive-behavioural processes but fewer awareness-generating and emotion-enhancing processes.
Norcross JC, Mrykalo MS, Blagys MD. Auld lang syne: success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year’s resolvers and nonresolvers. J Clin Psychol. 2002 Apr;58(4):397-405. doi: 10.1002/jclp.1151. PMID: 11920693.
5
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/29/new-years-resolutions-who-makes-them-and-why/
Pew Research survey of 5,140 adults selected from their American Trends Panel, a member-based online survey panel that claims to be weighted so that it’s representative of the US adult population (gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories).
Link to questions asked: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SR_24.01.29_resolutions_topline.pdf
3 in 10 US citizens report making at least 1 resolution for 2024, with ½ making more than 1.
Nearly 1 month into 2024, most resolutions were still being followed, with 13% saying they haven’t kept any of their resolutions.
Largest group of resolvers is adults 18-29 @ 49% of respondents.
31% of survey respondents 30-49 made resolutions
21% of survey respondents 50+ made resolutions
79% of survey respondents made Health, Exercise or Diet goals.
Gracia S. New Year’s resolutions: Who makes them and why. Pew Research Centre. 2024 Jan.
General notes:
Decide on a place to write down the actions related to your resolutions and record what you do daily.
That could mean writing them in your paper planner, keeping them on your calendar, using a habit tracking app, or having a shared document with an accountability partner.
In your process of commitment to your resolutions over the course of 12 months, it’s easy for enthusiasm to wane. In those moments when you just don’t want to make the right choices, knowing that someone else is aware and will care can really help.
Set a goal, but try to create a goal with obvious steps. Smaller points along the way that act as meaningful ‘small goals’ that show you that you’re making progress.
*There are so many factors that affect weight loss and it’s not linear. Working out can cause inflammation, or worse for the scale, muscle growth. And sometimes you have to go up to go down. Sometimes you go down then go up. And sometimes the added activity isn’t enough to make the difference you’re hoping for, especially with rigid goals.
