Why Do New Year's Resolutions Fail?

It feels like the same thing over and over again, doesn’t it? We start the year with best intentions and powerful resolutions, only for them to fade away by the time January comes to an end. Data from Statista reveals that health is the most popular theme for 2023 resolutions, with exercise and eating healthier making it to the top 2 resolutions.?

Although the people surveyed were American, it’s safe to say that the sentiment around making health a priority is universal, especially post-pandemic.?

On the flip side of these good intentions is our struggle to convert them into habits.? Research conducted by the fitness app Strava, with over 800 million user-logged activities in 2019, predicted the day most people are likely to give up on their New Year's Resolution is the second Friday of January, which went on to be termed as?“Quitter’s Day”.?

If you’ve taken a step to be healthier this 2023 but find yourself returning to your old ways, we just want to say - don’t give up!?

Here are 3 ways to help you hang on to your resolutions and make it a habit this 2023:

1?? Start Small - One of the biggest reasons behind our failure to keep up with our resolutions is because they are ambitious. The start of a new year encourages us to dream big, and while ambition is a good thing, it rarely transforms into a habit.?

Breaking your resolution into smaller, almost bite-sized goals will help you taste success sooner and help? you stay on track. Let's say, your goal is to quit sugar. Try having no sugar once a week before you move on to twice a week and so on. Similarly, for exercise, start thrice a week before you increase frequency.?

Small, specific goals are the secret to success!?

2?? Make Your Environment Work For You - James Clear, the author of the worldwide bestseller, Atomic Habits, says that the “environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behaviour”. If you want to do something, make sure your surroundings make it easy for you to stick to your resolution.

Clear says that humans?are designed to “take the path of least resistance”. We only do things when they’re easy. And our surroundings are crucial to ensure that the things we want to do are also easy to do.?

Want to eat healthy food? Make sure your fridge and kitchen are full of it. Want to cook more at home? Meal prep during the weekends. Want to go running after work? Take your shoes to the office. Want to reduce the use of your food delivery apps? Delete them.?

So by setting your environment for success, you set yourself up for success.

3?? It’s Okay to Fail, As Long As You Get Back Up Again - Of course there will be bad days! Perfection isn’t a human quality. The key is to ensure that your misstep doesn’t multiply. Skipping the gym when you manage to be on track for two weeks is okay. Using this incident to give yourself permission to continue skipping, is not. The same applies to staying off alcohol or smoking or eating junk food. Aiming for consistency is far more helpful than aiming for perfection.

After all, perfection doesn’t build habits, consistency does.?

We hope you found this newsletter helpful! If you did, please share it with your friends and connections.?

Stay Healthy!

Team ACKO ??