It is officially 2023, and many people have made New Year's resolutions, including myself. In the past, I've made some resolutions that I did not keep, and I was wondering how I could stick to my resolution this year.
After reading some articles, I came across some research on New Year's resolutions.
Per Carlbring, the study author, elaborated on this study, saying 1066 people made resolutions, each sorted into one of three groups that received either no support, some support, or extended support.
Carlbring says, "It was found that the support given to the participants did not make much of a difference when it came down to how well participants kept their resolutions throughout the year. What surprised us were the results on how to phrase your resolution."
This research poses a new idea: have a resolution with a positive connotation. For example, while it may be hard to stop eating many sweets, it is easier to start exercising more.
Catherine Pearson from HuffPost wrote about these findings, recalling that Carlbring mentioned it is almost impossible to fully eliminate a behavior but possible to replace it. "Approach goals" are what you want to make, according to the research, and you do not want to make "avoidance goals."
Sixty percent of those with "approach goals" succeeded, and only forty-seven percent of those with "avoidance goals" succeeded. As Pearson remarks, this is "not necessarily a huge difference." However, the researchers believe their study is the largest ever on New year's resolutions, and their research puts all of us one step closer to better achieving our resolutions.
The reason I decided to write about this is not just because this can help us with our New Year's resolutions, but because this study shows how relevant research is to our daily lives. The topic of research can often be mistakenly painted as foreign, especially as something that does not apply to the average person and only brainiacs can understand. However, some people do not realize how prevalent the findings from the research are in our lives. Sure, some research is on complicated nucleosynthesis, but other research simply helps us keep our New Year's resolutions. The more we start to acknowledge research as a daily tool, the more we can improve our everyday lives and become content, well-informed people.
Sources: