We’ve all heard the saying, “Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life.” Each year when January 1 rolls around we take stock of ourselves and decide to make some changes. For some reason we don’t feel this impulse on May 24th or August 10th. I think it must be the word “new” that gives us that boost to change our behaviors. “I’m going to take much better care of this new car than the old one.” “I’ll always remember to take my shoes off before walking on the new carpet.” Yeah — right.

As you might imagine there are people in this world that just have way too much time on their hands and have compiled some statistics about us, and our resolutions. I hate for their efforts to be a total waste of time so I’m re-publishing some of their findings here. Enjoy

Top Ten Resolutions

Here are the top ten most common New Year Resolutions. 1.) Lose Weight – no surprise there, 2.) Organization – Your life, office, home, garage, yard, boat, camper, etc. 3.) Finances – Save more; spend less. 4.) Get More Out of Life. 5.) Get Healthy – Still paying dues to the health club you stopped attending 8 months ago? 6.) Learn a New Skill. 7.) Quit Smoking – Yeah, that’s gonna happen. 8.) Commit your time and/or money to others. 9.) Fall In Love – Not sure how you MAKE that happen but at least you’re willing to learn. 10.) Family Time – Spending more time doing things together.

Resolutions – The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

How many of us make and actually keep New Year Resolutions? Forty-five percent of American’s make some form of resolution each year. But an almost equal 38% are adamant about not making any kind of resolution. Seventeen percent make them now and then.

Making resolutions is one thing, keeping them is quite another. Only 8% of us actually go all in and complete whatever promise we make to ourselves. A surprising 49% have some level of success while 24% of us fail not only once but also year after year.

Resolutions – Success Based on Age

If you think older folks would be more disciplined than younger ones in keeping their resolutions you would be mistaken. Only 14% of those in there 50’s are able to keep their yearly resolutions compared to 39% of those in there twenties achieving success.

Some Final Thoughts

The best comment to make on resolutions is making them can’t hurt. One last tip from the statistics provided is those people who make very specific and explicit goals have a much better chance of achieving them. Setting a goal date to lose weight or stop smoking is a lot more effective as you work toward an achievable goal.

So by all means, set your goals for the coming year and best of luck in reaching them. If not, there’s always next year.

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