Time flies. Here we are, 2020 is coming to an end. New Year is just around the corner and making new resolutions is what comes to most people’s mind.

By definition, New Year’s resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year (Cambridge dictionary). In other words, you make a promise for the coming New Year to adjust the future by reflecting on the past. However, there are two kinds of people, those who perfectly plan their future by establishing long goals lists whether they are daily, monthly, or annually, and those who merely content to live day to day without worrying about setting any resolution throughout their life. Some people who decide to no longer plan their year might have repeatedly struggled in achieving the goal they set up when the year began. According to a study conducted by the University of Scranton, just 8 percent of people achieve their New Year’s goals. Around 80 percent fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions, US clinical psychologist Joseph Luciani explains. Another survey conducted by Franklin Covey, the company that published the famous book “The seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey, shows that 35 percent – or one-third – of those who make New Year’s resolutions break them by the end of January. In fact, there are multiple reasons why resolutions fail, which may vary from how resolutioners fix goals and how they handle them. The way they approach their fixed goals plays a major role in reaching them. Most of the time, people set irrelevant and unrealistic goals or just make resolutions in haste as New Year arrives quickly.

Three Malagasy young people – two men and one woman – share their opinions about New Year’s resolutions. The younger argued that setting resolutions is not really of much importance. He explains that sooner or later, such resolutions established from the very start of a new year will always change by the time and correspondingly, are more likely to break. He also added that resolutioners sometimes fail to appreciate the present time, as they are quite too busy to plan their future life. The other two agree that setting up goals – not any goals though, but relevant, meaningful, and achievable ones – is always of a paramount importance and remains a key part to any successes, more particularly when a new year begins. Indeed, setting resolutions may obviously seem to be a waste of time for some, whereas it means so much for resolution-makers. Whether you do not rely on New Year’s resolutions to survive or you are used to making long lists for your fulfillment, know that using SMART method is always helpful and a must for achieving one’s goal. Set a few Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound goals!

Sources: The New York Times, US news and world report