A little more than a week after the first of the year, I have one question for you: how’s your New Year’s resolution coming? Have you started yet? Perhaps the more pertinent question would be whether you’ve decided not to start yet. With only an eight percent success rate among those who make New Year’s Resolutions, it’s hard to imagine actually keeping one for much longer than a few weeks or a few months at most – but one needs only to show up at a gym any time in January to witness firsthand that plenty of people are still trying.

The New Year has a positive connotation to most Americans, offering a tempting promise of a fresh start. In the moment, it seems so simple to commit to becoming the person you want to be: with confetti fluttering in the air and the glittering lights of Times Square on the television, the New Year tends to begin on a high note. But with company leaving and work or school looming on the horizon, reality often nips vows for improvement in the bud.

It’s true that many people manage to keep their resolutions for several months relatively faithfully, but time tends to wear willpower thin. By the time six months have passed, fifty-four percent of those who make resolutions have given them up.

With New Year’s resolutions rapidly becoming a running joke among those who have little success in keeping them, many wonder why anyone bothers to try at all. It seems silly to think that a new year will automatically bring fulfillment of one’s greatest goals – after all, when the ball drops at midnight, the only thing that changes is a number, not your character. Despite notions of new beginnings, you’re probably the same person you’ve always been, and achieving your goals won’t be magically easier now that the number on the end of the date is different.

Another fatal flaw in most people’s dreams of achieving a New Year’s Resolution is a total lack of planning. Caught up in a new-found conviction to get things done, resolution-makers believe that they can get by on determination alone. While this sentiment is certainly important to making progress, most people’s resolutions require meticulous planning far in advance. And, even if well-planned, resolutions can often fall apart due to impatience for results. Something about New Year’s resolutions makes people expect instant gratification for minimal effort. Contrary to popular belief, two or three trips to the gym won’t give you that six-pack you wanted, and Googling “how to teach yourself a language” won’t make you fluent.

At the end of the day (and the year), all everyone really wants to do is achieve their greatest aspirations. But the people who are most successful in life probably didn’t just decide one night to become successful and become that way all at once. More than likely, they discovered over time where they wanted to get in life and made a small but conscious effort every day to get there. The thing about New Year’s resolutions is that there’s a notion attached to them that the work is temporary, while the benefits last forever. Unfortunately for those unprepared for a serious commitment, the truth is entirely the opposite. So if your New Year’s resolution involves planning, hard work, and long-term dedication, then by all means, work toward it. But if you decided at 11:59 to travel the world next year starting tomorrow, you might be better off postponing your commitment until you’ve actually bought the tickets.

http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/