By the start of February, approximately half of people who made New Years Resolutions will have given up already.
So, why are resolutions so hard to keep? Often our goals are too ambiguous or too ambitious (or both). “Be healthier” or “eat better” is hard to quantify.
Of course, goal-making and resolutions are not restricted to January 1st. Some people may be more inclined to make resolutions on significant birthdays, others–like me–may not see January 1st as the start of the year. Because I have been a student for most of my life, September is more salient to me as the start of the year. All big milestones started in September and because of that, I have always been inclined to make my resolutions on September 1st, rather than January 1st.
Good resolutions need to be SMART. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.
In September, I made the goal of creating a diverse portfolio of science writing. As I re-examine this goal, I think I initially made the common mistake of not being specific enough. I believe that my goal is achievable and realistic, and I have set a timed deadline of the end of the winter semester. While I did mention that success would be measured by the creation of a portfolio in which, “It is clear that certain articles are for a lay audience, and others are targetted toward an informed audience”, I didn’t say anything about the quality of those pieces, or what I was going to do to accomplish this goal.
Moving forward I would like to set a goal of being more forgiving of my imperfections. Sometimes I will obsess over a particular piece of writing at the expense of other assignments or duties. Rather than looking only at the end product, I think it is also important for me to look at how my writing changes over the course of the year. Seeing where I have come from will, hopefully, allow me to set more specific goals in the future.
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References
Norcross, J. C., & Vangarelli, D. J. (1989). The resolution solution: Longitudinal examination of New Year’s change attempts. Journal of Substance Abuse, 1(2), 127-134.