I spent the end of 2022 thinking about who I wanted to be in 2023. Counting down the days until January 1st when, spectacularly, my diet, routine, motivation and faults would all change. But none of these things magically changed on the first day of the new year. 

As humans, we crave the idea of a fresh start. The idea that, with a stroke of time, we will be able to change as individuals is flawed. The truth is, humans are naturally resistant to change, and fresh starts don't exist. Still, every year we often fall into the same trap of setting unrealistic expectations for ourselves when only 9% of New Year’s resolutions are successful (Oscarsson,  Rozental, Andersson, & Carlbring, 2017).

This is not to say that positive change is out of reach, but a holiday is not the solution to problems that affect people all year round. So, how can you healthily and successfully incorporate change into your life? The answer is to start  building habits (Dalton & Spiller, 2012). 

Habits literally rewire the brain (Mannino, E. , 2022). For example: instead of having the resolution to read 50 books in one year, a habit could be vowing to always carry a book with you, or reading every night before you go to sleep. Habits have a greater lasting impact because they continue indefinitely whereas goals do not. Winning x amount of soccer games will not necessarily  make you a better athlete, but practicing everyday will. 

Habits are easy to achieve on a daily basis, and good habits will effectively help you reach your goals .  But habits take time and—like goals— require commitment. However, implementing small changes is a lot easier to achieve than tasking yourself with completing multiple big goals at the same time. 

But goal setting is not the only problem with  the ‘new year, new me’ mentality. The root of the problem lies much deeper: Why do we feel the need to change in the first place? 

Policy and Herman’s study states that “embarking on self-change attempts induces feelings of control and optimism that supersede the lessons of prior experience.” The study also emphasizes how “people tend to expect an unrealistically high payoff from successful self-change.”

The idea that we are in control of who we are and who we become makes us feel more secure in our ability to change and excited to embark on new goals. However, these goals rarely live up to our expectations. Once the realities of our goals sink in and the optimism on NYE wears off, we often procrastinate or relapse. This concept is known as self-efficacy: the idea that by setting a goal with the intention to follow through on it, we feel a sense of control over what is happening in our lives.  Self-efficacy thrives around New Years and ignores the fact that goals often fall out of our control. 

New Year’s Eve is the natural time to set goals and reflect, but learning how to achieve those goals successfully and the psychology behind our resolutions is important.

SOURCES:

Dalton, A. N., & Spiller, S. A. (2012). Too much of a good thing: The benefits of implementation intentions depend on the number of goals. PsycEXTRA Dataset. https://doi.org/10.1037/e665532012-001 

Oscarsson, M., Rozental, A., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2017, November 20). New Year's resolutions: A large scale randomized controlled trial. DIVA. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1158602&dswid=191 

Mannino, E. (2022, May 31). How to rewire your brain. Center for Healthy Aging. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from https://www.research.colostate.edu/healthyagingcenter/2022/05/31/how-to-rewire-your-brain/ 

Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. (2000). The false-hope syndrome. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(4), 128–131. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00076