By Ernie Williamson
The Bulletin
I have never broken a New Year’s resolution. Of course, I never seriously made one, either.
I feel like a New Year’s deadbeat at this time of year. While others are making promises to improve themselves, I am not.
It is not that I do not have areas needing improvement. I am sure my wife would gladly detail them for you.
The problem is that one of my flaws is a lack of stick-to-it-iveness. I know by Jan. 2 my resolution would be history.
Turns out there are a lot of us out there not making resolutions. In fact, we are the majority.
A 2022 poll by YouGov indicated that only 37 percent of Americans had a goal or resolution they wanted to achieve in 2022.
There are indications, however, that Americans make more resolutions than people in other countries. A survey in Sweden found only 12 percent of the population made resolutions.
So, who is making resolutions, and what goals are they prioritizing?
A Forbes Health/One Poll surveyed 1,000 adult Americans in October about resolutions for 2024 and found:
The most selected New Year’s resolution for the upcoming year was fitness (48 percent) which contrasts with findings from the previous year.
The previous Forbes poll showed that many were prioritizing mental health instead of physical health.
Other common resolutions behind fitness are improved finances (38 percent) and lose weight (34 percent).
Even less-popular resolutions were meditating regularly (5 percent), drinking less (3 percent), and performing better at work (3 percent).
Women (64 percent) feel slightly more pressured to set a resolution than men (60 percent).
Men (82 percent) are slightly more confident in their ability to achieve their goals than women (79 percent).
Younger adults (59 percent of those ages 18 to 34) are more likely to make a resolution than those older adults (19 percent).
Parents with kids living at home are more likely to make a resolution (54 percent) than parents without kids living at home (33 percent).
If you find yourself making resolutions and then failing to achieve them, rest assured you are not alone.
The Forbes Health/One Poll found that the average resolution lasts just 3.74 months.
Failing at New Year’s resolutions is so common that there is even a slew of unofficial dates commemorating such failures.
Some call Jan. 17 “Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day” while others denote the second Friday in January as Quitter’s Day.
(Contact Ernie at williamsonernie@gmail.com. Or, send letters in care of The Bulletin, P.O. Box 2426, Angleton, TX. 77516).