It’s a new year, and a fresh chance to improve yourself. This year especially, seeing as it is an opportune beginning, many people around the globe are creating goals, resolutions, and aspirations in the hopes of improving their lives and bettering themselves.

The tradition of making these said resolutions began way back, all the way to Babylonian times, where the people would make promises to their gods to, for example, pay their debts or return any objects they had borrowed from one another. These promises could be considered forerunners of the resolutions we now know. For early Christians as well, the first day of the new year became the obvious occasion for reflecting on one’s past mistakes and resolving to do and be better in the future. 

Both of these and other historical traditions eventually led to to the tradition we know today, which is not based on religion, but used for bettering ourselves and improving habits.

Have we ever thought about whether or not making these lists of goals actually helps us, though? 

No? Then maybe we should.

But here’s the thing. These goal-making sessions can seem to be beneficial, but in all honesty may not actually work as efficiently as we’ve been led to believe. 

As we have all experienced, New Year’s resolutions have a way of almost always failing. According to some people who made resolutions that just did not stick, the most common reasons for this failure included having “unrealistic goals”, not keeping track of progress, forgetting about the resolutions in general, or simply having too many.

One may even wonder how it is even possible to create a successful New Year’s Resolution. Yet luckily there are some strategies that can help.

• This first one is probably counter-intuitive, but it is to ‘Dream passionately’. Having audacious goals that drive you forward is good.
• ‘Fully understand’. Comprehending exactly why you want to achieve something and how it will be beneficial will help significantly. This really gets you into the right mindset, leading to the next strategy. 
• ‘You must change your consciousness before you can attempt to change your behavior’, meaning before we can expect to achieve the goals we wish to, we must have a healthy mindset, or think more ‘outside the box’ as we typically would. Einstein once said: “We cannot solve a problem on the level of consciousness that created it.” 

• The next is to ‘get support’. If you have someone holding you accountable for your goals, you’ll probably get there much faster. 
• Last of all,  you must learn to take small steps. Breaking up your aspirations into small, baby steps can make them seem more achievable, and aid you in reaching that top-tier.

Overall, resolutions are tricky, and most people don’t keep them, but with the right attitude and clever strategies, you can have the year you dream of.