RTU PSA

New Year, New Me: “Psychology Says, Stop Creating New Year’s Resolutions”

By: Brigida C. Candelaria, RTU-PSA Writer

New Year’s Resolutions is a traditional list that is marked with hopes and full of planning throughout the year and wishing for it by successfully achieving and granting as the year ends. It allows people to take a pause, reflect, and take a look back at the things in the year behind. New Year’s Resolutions offer a second chance to improve the quality of our lives. It begins as a blank slate–which gives everyone an opportunity to get things right or supposedly appropriate regards on their perspectives.

Setting up a resolution and beginning to follow through, people’s minds start to trigger a neurotransmitter called Dopamine. When people start to feel achievable and granted, Dopamine helps to control the human brain for reward and pleasure and creates emotional responses. Dopamine levels begin to increase while setting to accomplish a resolution, but will eventually drop as people result with lack of focus and action to achieve their set-goals.

In World History, New Year’s Resolutions have been over 200 years and existed for quite a long time, it’s been a relatively old practice. However, in the early 19th Century, they tended to misuse them as an excuse which resulted in misbehavior and broken hopes and promises with themselves.

Accepting the rejection and frustration from the past years will help a resolution to be attainable and it will be easier to be more focused in the long term. Believing is also a great motivation in accomplishing one’s New Year’s Resolutions. Yet, instead of sticking to resolutions, try to set goals throughout the year. These goals should be attainable, fulfilling, creates small progress, and on a long term basis. Setting a vision for the new year can bring a lot of benefits, if it’s done correctly and accurately. Being able to provide a clear direction to pursue for the following months to come, develops a sense of purpose while navigating the year ahead. Unfortunately, around 80% of us come to find ourselves already failing by the month of February due to a lack of actionable steps and motivation to continue.

Luciani, Ph. D, a Clinical Psychologist, notes that most people find themselves failing due to a lack of motivation and self-discipline that is addressed by how they created and set their goals–not just for the new year, but even in day to day affairs. Many effective methods to prepare are more likely to focus on genuinely meeting and attainable goals, one of them was the SMART framework (which stands for Specific, Attainable, Measurable, Realistic, and Time-Bound Goals). In this framework, people could set-up their resolutions as they ensure that their goals are relevant, specific to their own context, attainable, and actionable.

Setting goals for the new year not only helps in harnessing a sense of purpose and direction in our lives but also contributes to developing positive well-being and good mental health. These can allow us to set ourselves up for success with research linking the action to developing relatively higher motivation, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and autonomy. Overall, having attainable goals allows positive outcomes towards ourselves and challenges our abilities and limitations.

On the other hand, instead of making a resolution that will be looking forward throughout the year. Give time to think about ‘Things to Try for This Year’ and make an effort to understand an individual’s hobbies and interests within themselves. Juan Ekis, a blogger posted a trend about the things to try instead of resolutions. The blog talks about “Subukang” or trying things for the upcoming year. Trying other hobbies, pursuing interests, getting a new beginning, starting a business, looking for a new job, and trying to be the best version of themselves.

Furthermore, New Year’s Resolutions and Things to Try for this Year will only be successful in achieving goals, if we’re focused and taking action even by small steps in progress. These will make us feel motivated since we are looking forward to having benefits for ourselves. Prioritizing one’s Mental Health is also a set of goals fully integrated in the manner that is clearly to come. A key step in creating our Mental Health goals is to understand the sustainability and longevity of our plans.

Are we willing to put in the time and effort to consistently work towards these goals?

Am I willing to forgive myself if I fail or encounter difficulties?

How do I see myself working on these goals, in a few months and throughout the year?

A vital portion of goal-setting is the ability to pace ourselves well. It may help to chunk down large goals into smaller ones and vice versa to provide us with relief from having to deal with the difficulties of changes. While attaining these goals throughout a year, here are a few reminders for not giving yourself a tough year: have fun and enjoy, share your successes with your family and peers, make it easier and realistic, and don’t compare your progress with others, we may have different paces and everyone’s was trying to deal with their own path.