“New Year, New Me” is the buzzword of January, with new year’s resolutions popping up like fireworks. However, according to CBS News, 75% of people do not stay committed to their resolutions. With such a high failure rate, are new year’s resolutions even effective for achieving one’s goals? I would argue no, definitely not. Here’s why:

January 1st is a horrible time to set goals for students

We all know New Years’ is preceded by major holidays like Hannakuh, Kwanzaa and Christmas. That means the past week has included plates stacked high with fatty meats, hearty vegetables, creamy soups, sugary desserts and grandma’s delicacies galore. On top of that, students are on a school break, meaning hours of rotting in bed, binging Netflix, napping 24/7 and increasing that phone screen time by 5 hours. 

While I do agree it’s important to fully relax on break, the break mindset is unideal for setting year-long goals. Think about it: you’ve been lazy for days, and by New Year’s time, you’re probably realizing you need to be more productive. This causes people to overcompensate on their resolutions and set unrealistic goals based on current feelings instead of true long-term wants. 

On top of that, while it’s easy to get into good new year habits in the week following New Year’s, it will most likely go out the window after school starts. Your new routines are built around the break schedule, not your normal life— making it hard to continue when reality hits and everything gets busy again. 

The “New Year, New Me” mindset is fleeting

Many people only set resolutions because they’re in the “new year spirit” and it simply seems like the “right thing to do” on New Year’s Day. In fact, according to the 2024 Forbes Health Survey, 62% of people felt pressured to set new year’s resolutions. This doesn’t bode well for the success of their resolutions because people are not actually dedicated to change and are just simply going with the crowd to prevent FOMO. While it’s easy to be committed to change when it seems like everyone around you is, the commitment fades when you have to keep yourself accountable. 

Most goals are unrealistic 

Okay, let’s face it: you are not waking up at 6am every morning if you always snooze through your 8:30 alarm. A lot of people are far too ambitious in their goal setting, expecting themselves to jump way too many steps in a small time frame. For example, your goal should probably not be “Go to the gym daily” when you barely have time to sleep with your busy schedule as it is. 

Along with that, resolutions do not include a plan. Everyone wants to “eat healthier” but it’s not specified what that looks like exactly. What steps will you take to achieve this? What will keep you accountable? Are you setting checkpoints to ensure steady progress? None of these questions are answered in New Year resolutions, making the feasibility of success very slim. 

So what should you do instead? Setting goals throughout the year whenever you want to change something can put you in the right mindset and provide adequate motivation for immediate action. Nisha Naveen, a junior who is highly motivated by goal setting, shares her rule of thumb: “What works for me is setting goals I genuinely want to accomplish [because] then it feels like I’m working towards them because I want to…[not] just to get it done.” Actually planning out steps to achieve the goal and setting accountability measures is also important for success. 

Overall, achieving new year goals is possible— you just have to be smarter with how you go about them.