Is there a new year resolution in you? It’s the thought that counts

By Chuck Thompson | The Sunday Column

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OPINION / HUMOR – Looking back, how many times were we encouraged to set a new year’s resolution, either in school, from friends and family, news / TV shows or via social media. I can’t recall, but it seems to be quite often.

What a nice thought, isn’t it? That’s really all it is, for most people, a thought.

But, after doing research, according to several websites, such as Forbes, Pew Research Center, Drive, and even CBS (I can’t imagine they just made up these stats) only about 9-10% of the people who make new year’s resolutions complete their goals.

Only?

I think that’s rather impressive.  

Personally, I’ve probably made 15 realistic new year’s resolutions in my 47 years. I’ve actually only carried three of those out through completion, which means my own average completion rate is lower than the national average.

Whether it’s weight-loss, or you want to stop doing a bad habit such as drinking or smoking, or maybe its such ideas as exercising, writing a book, starting your own business, or something family-focused, it’s good to set goals for a new year.

Don’t feel bad that you didn’t complete them. According to my unofficial research, based on information gathered from the sources I listed several paragraphs above, less than half of people actually set new year’s resolutions – and 9-10% complete them.

And it really doesn’t matter what the goal is, as long as you have something to work toward.

Examples? Well, I can only give you some of mine: One year I had a resolution to get married – but she ran off with another man (so, that one was kinda out of my control, and she’ still happily married, so at least it worked out for her – maybe I should have been more specific when I said “Marry Jenny” I meant me, not somebody else).

Another resolution I had was to write a book, back during a several years of writer’s block – and this one I’m not sure if it counted, because the book I wrote was actually written years ago, but then I found the only copy that survived printed, put into a 3 ring binder and placed in a moving box labeled “extra stuff not important” that I didn’t open for several years. So, when I finally rummaged through that moving box and discovered the long-lost manuscript, I published it in 2019 and counted that as my “resolution completed” even if it was a technicality.

There’s nothing wrong with admitting we don’t complete our resolutions.  When I was 25, my resolution was “to be a billionaire before Christmas” which didn’t come to fruition. In 2008 my new years resolution was to date a Victoria Secret Supermodel – that also didn’t come true – and still hasn’t (at this point in my life I don’t think that one is going to happen). And for several years, my new year’s resolution was to get back in shape by going to the gym at least three to five times a week, but c’est a vie… life gets busy, and these non-binding agreements with ourselves eventually fall to the side of important things we have to do. Not everyone’s schedule allows them to do certain goals, and other times we just lose interest.

That’s why, if you do set a goal, make it realistic on yourself. Ideas such as “Be kind to everyone” or “eat more fruit” or maybe tell your family and friends you appreciate them, or the controversial “remember to send out Christmas cards to friends and family” as this year new year resolution… Look on the bright side, if you fail to complete that one, you won’t disappoint yourself until December, at the end of the year, and won’t live with the self-imposed shame of breaking your resolution as early as February or March, as seems to be the usual time people give up on their new year’s goals.

Nobody says you have to set a new year’s resolution.

But, you could always go with the safe bet and make your 2026 new year’s resolution to be that you promise to make and complete a new year’s resolution for 2027 – and then, really, who’s to blame if you forget? If you don’t tell anyone and you actually forgot that you made a resolution to actually make a resolution next year, did it actually ever happen?

I hope you all have a Happy New Year.