Why I have no New Year's resolutions for 2025
Mission to the Moon
Happy New Year, WISers! It’s finally that time of the year when people around the world are busy thinking, “What should my resolutions be this year?” Some may choose to improve themselves by letting go of bad habits; some may aim to learn a new skill. These are called New Year’s resolutions, which are essentially goals set at the beginning of the year. People set these as a promise to themselves that they’ll change for the better—but for me, they’ve stopped appealing to me ever since last year. In fact, I believe they’re not even necessarily needed to make positive changes about my life throughout the year, and here is why:
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Unrealistic expectations
Personally, my biggest enemy when it came to following through on resolutions was the unrealistic expectations that came with it. Unrealistic expectations are impractical, wishful goals set in a way that doesn’t go along with our abilities. Some common examples would be expecting drastic changes overnight or hoping that you’d accomplish something easily without any obstacles. They are the flytraps that people often fall victim to when setting goals overall, and I was no exception last year. In 2024, I scribbled down a list of ambitious—almost impossible—goals. Though I worked hard to accomplish almost all of them, I still felt like something was missing by the end of the year. The truth was, I still expected more from myself, which led me to feel frustrated and completely burnt out. These unrealistic expectations were engraved into my mind, leading me deeper and deeper into the endless cycle of hyping myself up, losing motivation, then disappointment
Reflecting on my progress now, I’ve come to realize that I was biting off more than I could chew. High expectations caused me to give up on my resolutions altogether, which contributed to being counterproductive towards my growth.
Lack of motivation to maintain them
Think of motivation like yeast in bread when it comes to following through on set resolutions. Without yeast, bread would only stay a messy, sticky clump of dough—and without motivation, resolutions would remain a distant dream. For example, I resolved to work out daily in 2024. Within the first few weeks of my newfound fitness journey, I consistently went on jogs, did cardio, and ate “healthy” every day. However, as time wore on, I started to lose interest in doing so, seeing morning jogs and 30-minute cardio sessions more as chores rather than something beneficial for my health.
With my initial spark gone, I struggled to stay motivated. I dropped my fitness journey after 3 months as a resort, proceeding to do the same with every other resolution I had planned out by the end of 2024.
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What I do instead
Though New Year’s resolutions may be an amazing way to set goals for some people, they’re definitely not meant for me. As someone who has struggled greatly with seeing change through resolutions; this year, I’ve found a new approach towards achieving self-improvement. Instead of mindlessly setting goals, I choose to follow the SMART goals way. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time. For example, a goal following this framework could be:
Specific: I want to read 10 books this year.
Measurable: I will read every night.
Achievable: I will read 15 pages.
Relevant: This can help me improve in writing and expand my vocabulary.
Time: I can achieve this by the end of 2025.
By utilizing these, I could easily stay on track, make sure that my goals aren’t impractical, and most importantly—keep my tiny speck of motivation alive. What about you, WISers? Do you find New Year’s resolutions helpful, or do you find them jeopardizing like I do?
