New Year’s Resolutions: Friend or Foe?

The science of forming new habits

When my boss asked if I make new year resolutions, I replied; “Yes, definitely”. Personal growth is really important to me, I’ve set myself goals every other year, so why the hell not? He politely enquired what my resolutions were last year… which is where it got a bit awkward. For the life of me I couldn’t remember: and I can only infer from this I am yet to experience any resulting, revolutionary change.

This got me thinking. Are New Year’s Resolutions just a pointless and annual dance we do with ourselves? Where we have such little self-trust about achieving them, that they become meaningless? Or are they an important mechanism for personal growth?

Any steady gym-goer will tell you there are plenty of people abandoning their new year promises. In the first week of January, you can’t swing a kettle bell for fear of hitting enthusiasts trialling out their new Lycra. Come mid-February and ‘Body Pump’ sessions will be replaced with Netflix and a stuffed crust pizza (I know for many of you this won’t be true, but I prefer to pretend you don’t exist).

On a number of occasions, I’ve set myself the challenge of drinking six glasses of water before I go to sleep. Is this achievable? Absolutely. Is it specific, measurable, realistic and timebound? Most definitely. So why did I only adopt the “habit” for a short time, before reverting to intermittently drinking cups of tea? Apparently the 12th of January is the day that most people give up on their new year resolutions. So what is contributing to so many of us ditching our resolutions early?

The science behind it

It takes huge dedication and commitment to form new and permanent habits. Recently, as part of Search Labs “Well-Being Week”, we invited Michelle McArthur to speak around the fascinating topic of neuroscience, and how our brains form habits in the first place.

Our brain processes an unimaginable volume of information; making billions of decisions every day. To reduce its mounting workload, the brain must automate as many processes as it can. To avoid wasting valuable brain reserves on old and familiar territory, much of our thinking (after years of practice and repetition) becomes automatic and happens unconsciously. Think about driving your car to the office: it’s hard to imagine such an involved process happening on auto-pilot, yet I’m sure we’ve all arrived somewhere and not remembered a thing about the journey.

Doing anything new requires a lot of brain power. This understanding goes a long way to explaining why old bad habits are so hard to break. When we’re asking our brain to do something new, we’re actually asking the neurons in our brain to travel a less-trodden path (I like to visualise here standing at the edge of an overgrown field: do you automatically walk the established path, or start wading through the shrubbery?) When adopting new habits: you’re essentially asking your brain to take a more arduous road.

I specifically put to Michelle: “Why is sticking to drinking water so hard?? I’m not asking myself to do anything outside the realms of possibility?!”, to which she offered some interesting insight: In order to keep doing it, our brains need to experience some sort of reward for our efforts. Let’s face it, drinking a glass of water is never going to be like eating a doughnut; and drinking water won’t be reward enough in itself. I never waited long enough to see the benefit and reward that drinking a decent amount of water brings.

Doing anything different will feel like a chore. To get it to stick, we must create new neural pathways in the brain. This can only be done through significant repetition, so it becomes its own well-trodden path. Our brain will also require a reward for going such extra lengths – and quickly. This is why sticking to and achieving goals isn’t easy.

Anyone on the cusp of giving up on their new year resolutions, might be feeling like a failure. This is where I think we need to be realistic and kind to ourselves: adopting new skills takes time. If you were learning an instrument as a child, would your parents berate you for not nailing it first time round?!

So, taking all of this into account, are New Year Resolutions a good or a bad thing?

The verdict

I’m a massive advocate of anything that forces us to reflect. I might not always have succeeded with my goals first time (I mean, who passes their driving test first time these days anyway?!), but I know there are plenty of times in my life when I have.

There are quotes that say: “Don’t say you’ll try to do something, just do it”. In an idealistic world, sure, but isn’t this is a bit too black and white? It took me well into my 30’s to understand why I felt I needed to please others, and often to the detriment of my own needs. Since then I’ve been able to take positive steps to change this. I believe, it was the backdrop of reflection which will ultimately lead to my success. Real, permanent, change isn’t easy – and that’s ok. Rather than berate ourselves for “failing”, let’s champion making an important start.

If January is the vehicle for reflecting on what could be better in our lives, I’m all for it. I’ve been thinking a lot about wellbeing over the last year; it’s something I’m hugely passionate about for the Search Lab team, and I want to make sure we achieve continuous improvement in this area. I’ve also been thinking about what this looks like for me personally in 2019. I know it won’t be easy to remove some of the barriers I put in the way of my own well-being, and I’m sure we all have engrained ways of working. But the cogs are turning and I’ve set some resolutions in place. In my state of heightened awareness of what might be possible, even if I don’t nail it in 2019, I (almost) definitely will in 2020!