The most common New Year’s resolutions
Published 9:59 am Tuesday, January 2, 2018
It’s officially a new year, and many have already made resolutions to better their life in some way. According to a 2015 Nielsen survey, the most common New Year’s resolution is getting in shape, and it’s probably been the most common resolution for years and years.
Everybody wants to eat better, get to the gym more and feel better by summer, when we all break out our swimsuits. Instead, many people end up giving up their diets a few weeks in. Experts recommend having a friend exercise with you, or to join a regular class so that if you miss a session people can hold you accountable. Also, as we wrote last week, don’t aim for a big goal. Try to start eating better, exercising more and make realistic, small weight loss goals.
Some of the other popular resolutions aren’t surprising either. Many try to cut back on spending so that they can save more money, whether it’s for retirement, a vacation or a college fund.
Enjoying life to the fullest and spending more time with friends and family — two that seem to go hand in hand — are also popular. Breaking a smartphone addiction, eating at home more, drinking less and learning something new are some of the others.
Although all of these sound appealing, it might be hard to do them all at once. In fact, it might be hard to make any of them become a reality if you go about it the wrong way.
According to Time, the most common mistakes people make with New Year’s resolutions are setting unrealistic goals, pledging to change in a vague way and not tracking your progress. Experts recommend starting slow. After all, research says it takes 21 days to form a habit. The year 2018 will be whatever you make it. We hope that if you do make a resolution, you’ll stick to it, improve your life and have a great year.