New Year’s Resolutions: Beneficial or Pointless?

As the calendar turns from one year to the next, millions of people will resolve to reinvent themselves.

On scraps of wrapping paper, crumpled napkins, or in fancy notebooks bought just for the occasion, people will engage in the annual collective ritual of listing the ways that they will, this year, be better.

And yet, by some estimates, as many as 80% of people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions by February.

Only 8% of people stick with them the entire year.

Given this less than stellar track record, it is worth asking, are New Year’s resolutions even helpful?

“New Year’s resolutions can be productive if they’re within reason and easy to stick to,” said Senior Riley Baecker.

New Year’s resolutions also help those who procrastinate become more responsible and focused, and help others have a fresh start.

Students can improve on things from previous years, like Senior Emily Hoy who said that her resolution this year is “to be more timely, procrastinate less, and keep up with school work.”

Resolutions can also promote self esteem and empowerment.

This results in them being very successful for people who like to set goals for themselves.

However, the majority of students and teachers don’t have any New Year’s Resolutions.

“I didn’t want to hold myself to an expectation and be let down later on.

It’s easier to better myself without a goal I feel pressured to meet at the end of the year,” said Junior Rian Burgess.

New Year’s resolutions can be beneficial for some, but for others it can be hard to follow through with a goal for the entire year.

“There’s a lot of hype surrounding it at the beginning of the year but no one follows through with it,” said Senior Hunter Cooley.

Individuals often feed into procrastination, which will cause them to forget all about their personal goals.

Due to them procrastinating, the goals never get accomplished.

They also tend to create a lot of pressure, since it makes people feel that they have to fulfill the goals they have set for themselves.

And when many people set New Year’s resolutions, many of them realize later that they are not ready for change.

Therefore, the overall answer to this question is that New Year’s resolutions are pointless for most people because they don’t help nor do they encourage you to complete your goals.

Many people may say they have these goals for the New Year but they aren’t ready to make the necessary changes.

As the year progresses, people begin to forget each of those goals one by one.

“I prefer to make goals throughout the year during different temporal landmarks as opposed to waiting for the new year.

This way, I can attain my goals in the right time frame and feel more accomplished,” said English Teacher Kristin Wesson.

Essentially, resolutions are not necessary and can be counter productive.

In reality, you don’t need a New Years’ resolution to make changes in your life, you can make goals whenever you feel is the right time and find the motivation to do so.