New Years resolutions are a very familiar concept to most of us. The tradition of these habit-changing goals originated in ancient times in Babylon, according to most academic sources. The Romans picked up and carried on this tradition and interestingly enough, one common resolution was to ask forgiveness from enemies of the prior year. In Medieval times, the date for the New Year was changed several times, but was eventually returned to January 1st.
Cultural Differences
According to this article by Brooke Williams, some cultures take their New Years resolutions quite seriously. The Chinese, for example, have made house cleaning an important customary event on the first day of each year. Perhaps if our culture and society took resolutions to be a more serious matter, it would be easier for us to keep them! For the Chinese, their yearly house cleaning is something that is widely recognized as a tradition, rather than being something that is optional to keep.
Here are a few articles that offer advice on how to keep those New Years resolutions:
- How to Make a New Years Resolution You’ll Keep-Sharon Michaels
For those of us that have a bit of trouble with sticking to our resolutions, this article gives a few tips on how to make a resolution that you will be most likely to keep! - How to Press the Reset Button on Your Life-Jonathon Meade
Reset buttons work kind of like Ctrl+Z: they take you back to where you wish you were! In this article, the author shares some ways to change habits that you would rather not have. - How to Make Your New Years Resolutions Stick-Get Rich Slowly
Sometimes the key to getting things done is to think about the task to be done in a different manner than you normally would. In this article, the author explains how setting goals rather than resolutions helps them keep on track. - Making New Year Resolutions That Work-Kairu Kamuri
This article describes why many resolutions aren’t kept for long. The author gives a few tips on how to make goals that will actually be possible to keep. - How to Make Your New Year’s Resolution Stick-Clare Kaufman
This article gives five tips for keeping goals and resolutions that one has set in an easy-to-read format. - Making Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick-Feyi Boroffice
The author of this article explains some different strategies for helping people keep resolutions. Some of these include finding friends for support, keeping a positive attitude and creating a specific routine. - How to Make New Year’s Resolutions Stick-SportsGeezer
This article gives several pointers on making resolutions easier to keep, such as making more realistic goals and avoiding perfectionist thinking. - How to Make Healthy (and successful) New Years Resolutions-Jan Castagnaro
This article focuses on some of the reasons why we make the resolutions that we do and how the habits we wish to break, form. - How to Set New Year’s Resolutions and Stick with Them-Mark Dombeck, Ph. D.
This article takes a look at the psychological side of New Year’s resolutions and how to keep them realistic. - First and Goal-University of Virginia
This article explores some of the reasons behind failed resolutions and the factor of the unconscious in setting and keeping goals.
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