“A good beginning is half the work.” Irish proverb
The custom of making New Year’s resolutions has been around for thousands of years. The tradition dates back over 4,000 years ago to the Babylonians, although they celebrated the new year in mid-March, when their year began in coordination with the growing season. The resolutions they made were part of a 12-day religious festival, during which loyalty was pledged to the reigning king and promises to repay debts and honor obligations were made to the gods in hopes of having good favor bestowed upon them in the upcoming year.
When Julius Caesar established January 1 as the beginning of the new year in 46 B.C., Romans made resolutions to the god Janus, for whom the month is named after. Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, the protector of doorways, a two-faced deity who was known to simultaneously look back into the past and forward to the future. The new year’s resolutions of the Romans included promises of good conduct in the coming year and acts of sacrifice to atone for past mistakes. Early Christians took up the tradition, using the first day of the new year as a time for reflecting on one’s sins and praying for strength to be a better person in the upcoming year. In later centuries, various religious denominations offered services on New Year’s Eve that featured readings from the scriptures, hymn singing, and time for prayer as an alternative to the raucous party atmosphere that was, like today, typical of local celebrations.
Our modern-day resolutions have lost previous religious undertones and are focused primarily on self-improvement. But the tone remains the same, reflecting a recognition of past mistakes and a promise of control over future behavior. Perhaps those vengeful gods were potent motivators, as our secular resolutions have an abysmal failure rate. Whereas up to 45 percent of the US population reports making New Year’s resolutions, the success rate drops precipitously after January, with fewer than half of all resolutions still being observed by June. Other surveys show even lower success rates, with some as low as 6 to 8 percent after six months.
Self-improvement is an arduous task, no matter what time of the year we choose to tackle it. When it comes to changing our behavior, human history shows that we are drawn to framing them in the form of a resolution, and we like to make them at the precipice of a fresh start or a new beginning. Perhaps this reflects an underlying belief that personal change requires remorse for our past transgressions as well as sacrifice and restraint in our future behavior. When we lose sight of our resolutions and fail to change, we see it as a reflection of insufficient willpower, a sign that we did not try hard enough or have the strength to endure the sacrifices needed to be a better person. But studies show that the reason resolutions so often fail has less to do with the strength of our character and more to do with the resolutions themselves; most New Year’s resolutions are full of finger wagging, overly restrictive, and are directed toward correcting our personal foibles. Overall, we aren’t very good at making resolutions, and when we do, they tend to be out of sync with what is truly meaningful to us in life.
In science, resolution refers to the ability to distinguish two objects from each other. This is true of our New Year’s resolutions as well—they are a way of distinguishing what we did in the past from what we will do in the future. When crafted carefully, resolutions can provide clarity about our past experiences and how they can become lessons for our future. Resolutions anchor us in time and place; they are statements that reflect our strengths, values, and what is important to us. They can become our map, guiding us in the direction of a more meaningful life.
The first step in building effective resolutions is to clarify what is most important to us. Change is much easier when it aligns with our values. The trouble is that many of us aren’t really all that clear about what we value. If asked, we might say we value “family”, “friends”, or perhaps “work”, but what exactly does that mean? Our values are the qualities and attributes that we find deeply meaningful and satisfying in life, such as honesty, justice, trust, and beauty. Resolutions that reflect these qualities have more staying power, especially in the face of inevitable obstacles on the road to change.
We need not guess about what is most important to us—we can see it clearly simply by looking back, into our past. Although our memories of past events are notoriously fickle, what matters is not an accurate recall of an event, but how the event affected us. Studies have shown that our recall of past events are rarely accurate; what we remember tends to be a blend of emotion and some sensory detail, which we then weave into a subjective narrative. These narratives tell us less about what happened and more about what we paid attention to—a reflection of what is important to us in life. We are most likely to store memories of experiences that impacted us strongly, especially those involving strong emotions. Looking back on the past year you may find it hard to remember the mundane details of day-to-day life, but your recall will most certainly include one or more emotionally charged experiences. That is why what we choose to remember can provide clues about what is important to us.
Robust resolutions not only accurately reflect our values but provide a vision of who we want to be and why we want to be that way. But how we formulate our vision of the future will either help or hinder our success. There are a number of ways we can think about the future; the research work of psychologist Dr. Gabriele Oettingen identified three distinct ways of thinking about the future that are shown to hamper success in fulfilling future goals. The first mental process, indulging, involves immersing oneself in fantasies of a desired future—be it working at a new job, running a marathon, living on the beach, or enjoying retirement. Using measurements of systolic blood pressure, Dr. Oettingen found that fantasizing, even when the future was imagined realistically, caused people’s blood pressure to lower and had a calming effect. But fantasizing had an inverse effect on goal attainment: the more a person daydreamed about their success, the less effort they believed was necessary for success. Dr. Oettingen explained that success in building a desired future requires focus and effort; being in a calm and relaxed state runs counter to the energy needed to initiate change. Being too calm impedes progress—we need a little stress to get our engines running.
The second mental process that hampers future efforts is quite the opposite of indulging: dwelling consists of focusing on the obstacles to a better future, leading us to ruminate about what stands in the way of our desired future. Identifying obstacles involves a good deal of analysis and problem solving; both are mental processes that require narrowed attention and tend to increase our heart rate. They have the potential to create anxiety and tension. Dwelling is common when we lack confidence in our ability to change; someone who has lost and regained the same ten pounds every year is more prone to ruminate about all the obstacles he has faced during his past failed attempts. Sometimes we purposefully engage in dwelling, using it as a form of risk analysis with the false belief that identifying all our obstacles will make us better prepared. Whereas risk analysis works in the business arena, it can seriously impede progress in our personal lives. Rarely can we remain objective and detached when envisioning our own future. With each obstacle identified, our fear intensifies and can undermine our confidence, leading to an inertia fed by “analysis paralysis”.
The third mental process is a blend of both dwelling and indulging in which we contrast the obstacles that stand in the way of realizing our desired future with our fantasies of that future. Oettingen’s research shows that focusing on the reasons why we can’t change before we imagine our future is, well, a classic buzzkill. It is the high school counselor telling a student all the reasons she won’t be able to go to college before asking her to imagine her dream career. Nothing snuffs out the spark of a bright future quite like a basket full of problems—either real or imagined.
Oettingen’s research shows that both fantasizing and imagining obstacles are important parts of attaining our goals; it is how we contrast these mental processes that matter the most. A fantasy, by itself, lacks the friction needed to spark action, while ruminating about obstacles dumps water on the fire of intention. Good beginnings are a delicate dance of both vision and realistic planning; when we see what is possible and build a realistic path to get there, our resolutions can be the engine that help us build a meaningful and satisfying life.
As we enter this first week of January, let’s take a tip from two-faced Janus and craft a few inspiring New Year’s resolutions. Looking ahead through the door of the future, what do you want more of? Looking back through the door of the past, what might you leave behind? Janus is the keeper of doorways, reminding us that the first step toward change starts when we walk through the doorway between the past and the future. What are the possibilities that await you as you step through the door into 2023?
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