What Not To Make Your New Year’s Resolution
2024 is now upon us, and so is the season of New Year’s Resolutions that will absolutely not be stuck to. Whatever you made your resolution, be prepared to throw it out and start anew after reading all about my personal tips on what not to make your resolution!
- Working Out Every Day
Let’s face it; this one is a lie, often abandoned within the first month, if not the first week! Instead of picking a strict goal like this, try to aim for one that gives you some room. Something like “working out every weekend” or “going for a run every Friday” will allow you much more space to work around your schedule. In general, try to avoid resolutions that you know will be too difficult for you.
- No Junk Food Whatsoever
Completely cutting out junk food for an entire year is a lofty goal that few manage to achieve. Most cave at least once and down a bag of chips or a box of sweets. This one is impossible to stick to for an entire year. Instead, you can try something along the lines of “try avoiding junk food”, “limit junk food consumption per day”, or “only have one junk food item a day”. These resolutions will allow you to continue your resolution all year and give you some freedom with it!
- Get Good Grades
This resolution is incredibly vague, making it a lot trickier to follow through with. Other resolutions may be more straightforward as they’re more easily understood. For example, “don’t eat seafood” tells you exactly what you have to do, “get good grades” does not. Such a vague resolution doesn’t draw out what habits you need to pick up in order to fulfill it. This is why this resolution won’t lead anywhere. A better resolution would involve understanding how you study and how you achieve your best. Are you more of a note-taker, or do you prefer specific study methods? A better resolution could be “study for at least three hours a day”, or “review notes every Friday”. This way, your resolution will tell you exactly what you have to do, instead of making you figure that out for yourself!
- Save Money
Like the previous one, this resolution isn’t clearly understood and doesn’t actually outline what you need to do! A vague resolution is a resolution doomed to fail. Saving money isn’t the same for every person. We all have our individual lives that make our saving habits unique. A better goal more suited for you, could be “put aside 50 dollars every week”, “cut back on shopping”, or “avoid eating out”. With resolutions like these, you’ll be addressing your own lifestyle and making your resolution uniquely for yourself!
- Get a Boyfriend / Girlfriend
It shouldn’t even need to be said why this is a bad resolution. For one, your dating life should definitely not be a “quota” or “goal” for you to accomplish by the end of the year. Don’t rush to get a partner just because you feel you need one this year! Instead, allow yourself to go through this year with whatever comes to you. If you really wanted to make a resolution based on your dating life, a better one would be “go on a date each month” or “plan special outings every week”. In this manner, you’d be setting realistic goals based on how you live your life!
All in all, my personal trick for a good New Year’s Resolution is to make it specific, unique, doable, and of course, fun! A resolution shouldn’t be something that stresses you out, pick one that you know you can pull off, and one that you know you’ll have fun with!