New Year, New Resolution
By Russell Ndoboke
On Wednesday, January 1, 2025, millions around the world made resolutions, “New Year” resolutions, a tradition that has been around for quite some time. But, where did this custom start from? And, how did we get here?
The tradition of setting resolutions for the New Year dates back thousands of years. One of the earliest recorded instances comes from the ancient Babylonians, around 4,000 years ago. They celebrated the New Year during the vernal equinox, around March 20th or 21st, and made promises to their gods, vowing to return borrowed items and pay debts, symbolizing a desire to start the year with a clean slate and a sense of personal accountability.
Similarly, the ancient Romans celebrated the beginning of the year by making resolutions to improve themselves, often swearing by Janus, the Roman god of transitions, who looked both to the past and the future. These early resolutions focused on personal and social accountability, reflecting a desire to become better versions of oneself.
However, the modern tradition of New Year's resolutions—setting personal goals at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar year—has become more individualized. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as the modern concept of the “New Year” gained weight, people began to make personal vows or goals. These resolutions typically centred around self-improvement, discipline, and achieving personal goals. Research conducted in 2014 showed that only 8% of people succeed in achieving their New Year’s resolutions. The most common resolutions include losing weight, getting married, saving money, and buying a car. However, many people abandon these resolutions after a few weeks or months due to various reasons, such as unrealistic goals, lack of planning, mindset change, or the failure to adjust goals when circumstances change.
One of the primary reasons for the low success rate of New Year’s resolutions is that they tend to be based on external motivations. For example, many people set resolutions like “lose weight” or “get married” because it’s a popular goal or because they feel pressure from societal expectations. These resolutions often lack the deeper, intrinsic motivation required to stick with them. Thus, when people miss a day at the gym or experience an ended romance, they might feel like they’ve already failed, leading to the abandonment of their resolution altogether.
Another factor contributing to the ineffectiveness of New Year’s resolutions is the tendency to focus on setting ambitious, sweeping goals without creating a sustainable plan. Research has shown that successful behaviour change relies more on developing sustainable habits than on making January 1st resolutions. According to research from the University College London, it takes an average of 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic. This suggests that instead of focusing on yearly resolutions, individuals should concentrate on gradually forming habits that contribute to their long-term goals.
For example, instead of resolving to “lose weight,” a more effective approach would be to develop the habit of eating more nutritious meals and incorporating physical activity into daily life. These small, incremental changes are more sustainable and lead to lasting transformation. Rather than making sweeping resolutions at the start of the year, a better approach to achieving meaningful personal growth is to adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement. Unlike New Year’s resolutions, which tend to focus on dramatic goals with fixed deadlines, continuous improvement encourages a more adaptable and flexible approach. It emphasizes developing a mindset that welcomes growth and learning at all times, not just in January.
By consistently striving to improve in small ways, individuals can build sustainable habits that lead to lasting success. Some key principles of continuous improvement include: Setting smaller, achievable goals, embracing failure as part of the process, focusing on consistency, adjusting and adapting, and taking time to celebrate even small victories.
The tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions has deep historical roots, but it often fails to produce the long-term results people hope for. By shifting our mindset from “New Year, New Resolution” to “Continuous Improvement,” we can create a more sustainable and fulfilling path toward personal development that extends far beyond the confines of January.
