Statistics: Few Americans keep New Year's resolutions
By: By Heather Taylor
U-Wire
Issue date: 1/6/06 Section: Online Updates
- Page 1 of 1
(U-WIRE) COLUMBUS, Ohio - Perhaps it involved a toast made to another prosperous spin around the sun, or welcomed in with a midnight kiss. However it was celebrated, 2006 came in on time midnight of Dec. 31, beginning the start of a new year. For many across the country, the night also included making New Year's resolutions.
New Year's Eve resolutions began around 4,000 B.C. when Babylonians began the new year by paying off debts and bringing back borrowed goods, according to an excerpt from "Psychological Foundations of Success: A Harvard-Trained Scientist Separates the Science of Success from Self-Help Snake Oil," by Stephen Kraus, Ph.D.
According to the book, about 2000 years later, the Romans started the new year by assessing the old year and vowing to accomplish more in the coming year.
Some Ohio State students are abiding by the New Year's tradition of making resolutions.
"It gives me a common goal for the year so I can assess myself at the end of the year," said Autumn Smith, an OSU junior in accounting.
Eric Pheneger, a senior in political science, said he feels resolutions are more about tradition than getting something accomplished.
"(Resolutions are) an excuse to get on track when you could do it any time of the year," he said. "For example, (the Recreation and Physical Activities Center) is always packed at the beginning of the quarter from people who made their resolutions and then it drops off at the end."
Statistics back up Pheneger and Sillaman. About 50 percent of Americans make New Year's Eve resolutions, but only 15 percent manage to keep them, according to www.realscienceofsuccess.com/.
One of the solutions Kraus proposes is to set smaller goals and to create new month resolutions instead of New Year's resolutions.
This prevents you from forgetting your objectives and getting diverted from everyday hassles, he said.
J.B. Sillaman, a junior in finance, agrees and said he finds little use in making resolutions.
"It's pretty cheesy," he said. "There shouldn't be a certain date for you to change who you are. Why wait till then?"
New Year's Eve resolutions began around 4,000 B.C. when Babylonians began the new year by paying off debts and bringing back borrowed goods, according to an excerpt from "Psychological Foundations of Success: A Harvard-Trained Scientist Separates the Science of Success from Self-Help Snake Oil," by Stephen Kraus, Ph.D.
According to the book, about 2000 years later, the Romans started the new year by assessing the old year and vowing to accomplish more in the coming year.
Some Ohio State students are abiding by the New Year's tradition of making resolutions.
"It gives me a common goal for the year so I can assess myself at the end of the year," said Autumn Smith, an OSU junior in accounting.
Eric Pheneger, a senior in political science, said he feels resolutions are more about tradition than getting something accomplished.
"(Resolutions are) an excuse to get on track when you could do it any time of the year," he said. "For example, (the Recreation and Physical Activities Center) is always packed at the beginning of the quarter from people who made their resolutions and then it drops off at the end."
Statistics back up Pheneger and Sillaman. About 50 percent of Americans make New Year's Eve resolutions, but only 15 percent manage to keep them, according to www.realscienceofsuccess.com/.
One of the solutions Kraus proposes is to set smaller goals and to create new month resolutions instead of New Year's resolutions.
This prevents you from forgetting your objectives and getting diverted from everyday hassles, he said.
J.B. Sillaman, a junior in finance, agrees and said he finds little use in making resolutions.
"It's pretty cheesy," he said. "There shouldn't be a certain date for you to change who you are. Why wait till then?"
Be the first to comment on this story