5 Reasons Why Resolutions Don’t Work (And Focus On This Instead)

by Venchito Tampon | Last Updated on January 14, 2021

Why New Year’s resolutions don’t work, even if you have good intentions? And why goals are more important to set than resolutions? 

In this week’s episode, you’ll discover what makes a goal exciting. And by the end of the episode, you’ll be more confident not to settle for less with resolutions. 

Resolutions. Resolutions. Resolutions. We all see these lists everywhere. 

At the beginning of this year, people start creating their own list of New Year’s resolutions, whether that is being physically fit, starting an online business, saving enough money to buy an asset — whether tangible or intangible, people set these resolutions.

But why is it most people fail to accomplish these resolutions, even if they have good intentions in the first place?

Resolutions don’t work because:

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Resolutions are sometimes not personal

The thing with social media is when you see somebody posting what they want in life, there is a tendency to copy it and make it your own.

While it’s good to be inspired by what you see, it’s not a good thing not to know what you really want in life, and simply copy what everybody else is doing. 

Resolutions don’t work because they’re not mostly personal. 

Another reason why resolutions don’t work is that:

Resolutions only resolve past resolutions

What does it mean? When people create their resolutions list, they only refer back to resolutions that didn’t work last year. As simple as, they copy and paste what they were not able to finish the previous year. 

And given that for some reasons, resolutions won’t turn into reality again. These resolutions set this year will be the same old resolutions for next year. 

Resolutions don’t work because they are not clear

There is no clarity. Starting an online business, as a resolution won’t work, simply because it is not specific, there is no clarity.

When a thing is not clear to you, you usually end up not doing it. 

Resolutions are done once, and not periodic

This means, that most resolutions are just a hope in a miss. People see that once these resolutions are done, it is like a lucky charm of their life, that things will work out easily. 

While change can happen, resolutions don’t work simply by hoping for things to happen. You have to make things happen. 

So instead of setting a resolution, set a goal. Focus on goals, instead of resolutions.

Goal, by definition is the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

Why goals are better than resolutions?

Goals are specific.

It is an aim, something you can specify. The clearer a goal is, the more likely you can achieve it. 

Goals should be SMARTER. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, time-bound… We’ll cover more about SMARTER goals in our next episodes. 

The next reason why goals are better than resolutions is that…

Goals can be broken down into daily activities.

Whereas, resolutions are not achievable not because it is unrealistic, but most of the time, they are not tied to our daily activities. 

When you put your goals into your day-to-day living by setting up routines to make that work for you, then you’re likely to achieve what you really want in life. 

To start with this goal setting, think about the 10 domains of your life: 

1. Physical
2. Emotional
3. Social
4. Intellectual
5. Spiritual
6. Vocational
7. Avocational
8. Financial
9. Marital
10. Parental

What do you want to achieve this year to each of these domains?

Get a paper. Take 10 minutes of your time to think about it. Write down these goals. 

Instead of you and I setting a resolution, why not set a goal for yourself.