New Year’s Resolutions have always seem rather arbitrary to me. Why make promises to yourself that you don’t intend to keep just at New Year’s when you can do that all year-round?
I remember three years ago when I first promised myself that I would start going to the gym, and I also remember the summer of 2015 when I finally followed through on that. Since then I have promised myself that I will go back to the gym several times. Sometimes I go, sometimes I don’t. The last time I went to the gym I kept up a regular schedule for two-months, after which I decided that I had earned myself a well-deserved break . . . that was in July.
I have a feeling that if I only made commitments to self-improve at the start of the New Year that I would never follow through on anything. In fact, I find the whole process of making New Year’s Resolutions just to be another task to put under my to-do list. With all the rush to buy Christmas presents, write cards, plan end of the year and Christmas parties, now I have to remember to reflect on my entire year and plan for the next one too? Yes, it is good to reflect on your recent past and use that as a basis to plan for the future, but wouldn’t it be better to take stock of your actions all the time rather than just once a year. New Year’s Day must be a procrastinator’s dream! “Hurray, now I have a full 365 days before I have to think about making decisions to improve myself again.”
If you want to quit smoking, why not start right now? If you want to eat better, why not now? In fact, the only New Year’s Resolution that does make sense is to go to the gym. A lot of people go to the gym to get ready for beach weather in the summer and if you start going to the gym on January 1st, you won’t see drastic results until about July.
The best New Year’s Resolution that you can make is to promise to make resolutions all year-long.
