We are nearing that time of year; one year closes as another one starts. People across America are taking inventory of their lives and their shortcomings and start plotting a course for a brighter future in the upcoming year. I applaud this level of self-reflection and willingness to change unsavory aspects of one’s life for the better. However, the concept of the New Year’s Resolution is completely broken, and we need to move away from the idea as it’s presented entirely.
January 1st acts as a major turning point for a lot of Americans, the day where they start anew. However, why wait until the first day of the calendar year to make a change? There is an element of postponing self-improvement that is dangerous and sub-optimal implied with the concept of a New Year’s Resolution. If something in your life is causing you distress or is harming you on May 10th, then do something about it on May 10th, or May 11th at the absolute latest. We humans have a depressingly short life span, and there is no guarantee of having a next January 1st.Therefore, you owe it to yourself to take charge of your life while you are able to do so, and do not let what the calendar says deter you.
Furthermore, this is a time of year that is propped up artificially by tons of marketing. Gym memberships, fitness equipment, smoking cessation kits, and all other types of common tools relevant to self-improvement tend to go on “sale” during this time. This is a secondary Black Friday for many of these vendors. Gym memberships are a particularly sticky sale; after paying for a lot of upfront fees and rarely going to the gym, the monthly fee is automatically deducted from the account month after month, long after the average resolutioner has quit. The resolution industry (and yes, it is an industry) knows this, and is working hard to ensure to get as much money out of resolutioners as possible. I would always quip to my fellow gym-goers at St. Patrick’s Day is when the gym-regulars finally have our gym back.
Buying expensive new fitness equipment is rarely the solution to getting people to exercise more; it is at best wishful thinking or the sunk cost fallacy at play. Instead, deep reflection and a willingness to make socially, emotionally, physically and mentally difficult changes what is needed to truly lose weight, quit smoking, or whatever else the goal is (I’m going to focus this article on weight loss, since that is what I have experience with). Buying a $4000 dollar Peloton bike is not going to make you any more fit than buying a non-name $150 stationary bike will. There is also the fact that buying the expensive Peloton bike will not make you any more fit than buying a $1500 driver will make you better at golf; you need to correct the underlying problem first. Garages and basements across America are littered with well-intended purchases of exercise equipment that merely becomes expensive clothes hangers. In fact, tax return season becomes a fantastic time of year to pick up rarely used equipment at a steep discount.
Part of the problem lies with the goals themselves. Many Americans will make resolutions such as “lose weight”, with no quantifiable criteria. How much weight? By when? Others make the mistake of setting high goals with unrealistically short timelines; one doesn’t go from being completely sedentary to deadlifting 450 pounds, losing 75 pounds, or running a marathon in only twelve weeks. While I applaud such levels of ambition and a willingness to aim high, this can lead to people getting injured. Proper goal setting is far more strategic than people realize; you need to work your way up to deadlifting 450 pounds, and that process takes a while.
While we are on the topic of resolutioners, the average resolutioner is a little too harsh on themselves. On the course of any journey of self-improvement (and yes, this is a journey), there will inevitably be setbacks. Getting discouraged when setbacks occur-such as a tweaked hamstring or an undisciplined nutrition day leading to a slippery slope of other poor nutrition choices-is natural, but it’s important to persist. Unfortunately, the average resolutioner quits at this point, and it’s sad. Be willing to forgive yourself, so long as you make sure to learn from your mistakes. However, you can-and must-forgive yourself in order for change to occur.
What the fitness and resolution industry isn’t interested in telling you is that true change, as mentioned earlier, is an incredibly long and difficult journey. When I was eighteen years old, I weighed 297 pounds; today I am 175 pounds. This involved changing all of my nutritional habits, since nobody can out-train bad nutrition in the long-term. This involved religiously reading every nutritional facts label, to no longer keeping sugar available at home, to avoiding saturated fat and takeout, and so much more. My entire life had to change to achieve the desired effect. This isn’t an easy sell, so that’s way the resolution industry omits that from their advertisements. The change I made was necessary, the change I made was absolutely worth it, but the change was hard.
Another unexplored topic of resolution culture that goes under-discussed is that resolutioners usually attempt to make too many changes at the same time. While it is fantastic that someone wants to lose weight, read more, start going to night school, learn to juggle chainsaws, and volunteer at the human society, doing so all at once is not likely to succeed or last very long. We humans have limited bandwidth and trying to juggle too much at once is likely to fail. In my personal experience (TRIGGER WARNING; anecdotes!) focusing on one or two goals at a time worked best for me. Therefore, prioritization is key. From the hypothetical scenario above, the resolutioner would likely be best served by focusing on weight loss and night school first.
So as you can see, the process of lasting beneficial change is commendable, but is not at all accurately represented by the resolution industry. There is so much human potential that is wasted because of this misunderstood process, and the omissions made by the marketing campaigns of the resolution industry aren’t helping things either. While I want everybody reading this to accomplish their goals-and to aim high-I want them to be smart and sustainable as well. Take ownership of your life, wherever you are, whenever the calendar says, and let’s all get a little bit better as a whole, day by day.
Home Page 