Why Do We Make New Year’s Resolutions?

Post date: Jun 1, 2016 6:33:03 PM

By: Abbie Schmidt, Staff Writer

Posted June 1st, 2016

Recently, I sent out a survey of four questions to learn more about people’s personal resolutions. Being that the year is halfway over (wow!), I found it to be a fitting time to remind people of the goals they have set for themselves. The questions were: 1) What was your New Year’s Resolution? 2) Who made you want this as a goal? 3) How long did this goal last? 4) Have you attempted this goal before?

Now, I’d being lying if I say the results didn’t surprise me. It was interesting to see the goals people had set for themselves. They ranged from “lose weight” to “get a girlfriend” to “not get my heartbroken.” While some people had the goal of “making dank memes” I also got many responses about people wanting to “be happier”. Out of 100 people, 39% said working out was part of their goal.

Next, I asked who made them want this as a goal. People could choose more than one answer so it adds up to more than 100%. 21% of people were pushed by their family; 20% by friends; 14% by a significant other. However, the majority of people were pushed by themselves, a shocking 92%!!

Then, I asked how long the goal lasted; I was surprised to see that most people either dropped out right away, or stayed in till the end. 20 people ended the goal in January and 9 people ended their goal in February. 68 people continued through May. That leaves 3 people that stopped in March and April combined. This makes me think people are either very serious about their goal or don’t care at all. There doesn’t seem to be many people that “sorta want” to set a goal.

Finally, I asked them if they had attempted this goal before. 63% said yes while 37% said no. I found this interesting because it again shows that people are either “very serious” or “don’t care”.

Maybe people aren’t setting realistic goals if they need to repeat it year after year. Did you make a New Year’s Resolution? Now that the year is halfway over, ask yourself how you’re doing? Does your goal need to be tweaked or are you still going strong? Good luck!

To view the results of this survey go to: http://goo.gl/forms/lQro5Obf07Rl8mzn2