10 Reasons Making New Year’s Resolutions Are Pointless

Most people fail to achieve their New Year's resolutions. If you believe Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution#Success_rate ):

A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that 88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail,[12] despite the fact that 52% of the study's participants were confident of success at the beginning. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, wherein resolutions are made in terms of small and measurable goals (e.g., "lose a pound a week" rather than "lose weight").

If you plan to celebrate the new year, you'll end up sleep deprived and probably hungover if you drink alcohol. That doesn't sound like a great start to your plans!

Okay, maybe you decide to be responsible and sleep in to get a head start. I hope you're living in the middle of nowhere or have very boring neighbors. If not, the cacophony of the surrounding parties will guarantee you won't have a good night's sleep anyway!

Are your resolutions things that you really want? Or are they things that you think you should do? If you really wanted them as opposed to things you or others think you should do, why are you waiting to start?

Barring a grand epiphany or life changing event between now and when midnight strikes on January 1st, you will be the same person then as you are now.

Why is that version of you better equipped to make your dreams come true?

When you think of what you want to achieve in the upcoming year, it's easy to overlook the work needed to do it. You're not going to look like Roman gladiator in a year if you spent the last ten years sitting on the couch with a greasy bag of chips in your hands.

It's better to start small right now and create a system that you can stick to and adjust as you progress.

A metaphor that may apply is focusing too much on the finish line of a marathon instead of the next step can lead to a fall.

Life happens. Black swans take flight when no one expects them. All the best laid plans fail whenever an unexpected variable enters the picture. The longer you wait, the greater the chance of a threat to your goal can happen.

Don't wait. Make it happen ad soon as you can.

You might only need a few hours to accomplish your resolutions. You may need twenty years.

Can you sustain momentum and motivation for an entire year with the inevitable hardships and obstacles you'll have to take on?

This is especially true as you get older.

Why not make fresh start now?