For many, the start of the new year marks an opportunity to stamp out some of their worst habits and adopt new ones.
Think 'New Year' and the word party comes to mind, but the second January rolls around gyms are packed and the language apps are buzzing with new subscriptions.
People today are eschewing clichés and making creative goals such as practising daily handstands and reading books of all genres. However, making resolutions may not be as modern a practice as people tend to think.
So when did New Year's resolutions begin?
Historians often consider Ancient Babylonians to be the first people to have made New Year's resolutions 4000 years ago when their New Year began in mid-March instead of the start of January.
A long 12-day religious festival called Akitu saw them reaffirm their loyalty to the new reigning king crowned that year. Debts were also promised to be paid to gods and borrowed objects returned.
Though construed as a forerunner to modern resolutions, it was religiously important the Babylonians kept to theirs as they believed that falling short of doing so would place them at risk of falling out of their gods' favour - a place nobody wanted to be.
A similar practice later occurred amongst the Romans in 46 BC after Julius Ceasar reformed the calendar so the start of the New Year would fall on 1 January. Its name was inspired by Janus, the God with two faces - one symbolically looking back at the year that had passed, and one looking ahead which signified sacrifices to the deity and promises to be good moving forward.
Then, in 1740, the founder of Methodism John Wesley would lead Covenant Renewal Service for Christians (most commonly around the New Year). The service saw them reading from scriptures and singing hymns. However, the actual act of resolution-making became popular amongst Evangelical Protestants and remains that way today, especially amongst African American denominations.
What are some of the most popular resolutions today?
Forbes Advisor has revealed the list of resolutions Brits are looking to make in 2024. The list of the most popular ones involves:
- Exercise
- Losing weight
- Improving diets
- Focusing on financial goals
- Reducing stress
- Enhancing emotional well-being
- Making more time for hobbies
- Improving relationships
- Improving career goals
- Meditating regularly
- Practicing Gratitude
- Drinking less alcohol
- Reducing time on social media
- Quitting smoking
How many people keep New Year’s resolutions?
New Year's resolutions are meant to go beyond January, but many are not always kept...
According to a YouGov study of resolutions based on those made at the end of 2021, only 28 per cent of them say they kept all of them. Meanwhile, just over half (53 per cent) say they managed to keep some but one in six (17 per cent) admit they didn’t keep any of their resolutions.
The study found that almost twice as many men (40 per cent) were likely to claim they kept their resolutions as women (21 per cent) were.
But there may be ways to remedy this. Life coach Liz Goodchild has previously given some of the following pointers:
1. Start small
“If your New Year’s resolution is to improve your fitness, setting the goal of starting with just five push-ups a day, will feel way less overwhelming than 100 push-ups per day.”
2. Get ‘comfortably uncomfortable’ doing things that won't be a burden
“If you want to finish writing the book you’ve been trying to write for 10 years, start by writing for 10 minutes per day – which will probably amount to a chapter per month. This can suddenly feel like a pretty easy and manageable goal to work towards.”
3. Change your daily habits
“As a coach, I don’t really focus on how many days a habit will take to form but focus more on becoming the type of person who always sticks to your new habit – no matter how small or insignificant it seems.
“We all have 10 minutes a day to devote to something worthwhile. We don’t need to put aside hours a day to learn something new, or exercise or write or whatever it is you really want to do.”
4. Make your resolutions more achievable
“Make your New Year’s resolutions so ridiculously easy that you can’t not do them. Stanford professor BJ Fogg suggests that people who want to start flossing their teeth every day begin by flossing only one tooth. Just one.”
