Welcome to 2025.
Following the New Year’s festivities you may be waking up a little later than normal, but that doesn’t mean the new year isn’t off to a rousing start.
While most people who make New Year’s resolutions do so on Jan. 1, it’s actually equally efficient to make a resolution on Jan. 2… And by equally efficient, we mean equally unlikely.
According to a recent study, 38.5 percent of American adults make a New Year’s resolution and that number increases to 59 percent of young adults between the ages of 18-35.
The most common resolution, as most would guess, is to lose weight or live healthier. A resolution diet or exercise plan accounts for 48 percent of all resolutions. Of people who make a self-promise to exercise more or lose weight, 23 percent quit after one week and 36 percent don’t last a month.
Some other resolutions do tend to last a little longer. People who resolved to spend more time with family/friends, do volunteer work, and cut back their screen time tend to have more success.
Overall, only nine percent of people who make resolutions succeed at the end of a year.
Statisticians have even been able to track the most common day for people to quit on their annual promise. That day is the second Friday of January, meaning this year most people will turn their back on their resolutions on Jan. 10.
The most common reasons why people fail at keeping resolutions are lack of will power, lack of motivation, being too busy to focus on the task, shifting goals/priorities.
So why do we partake in the annual New Year’s ritual?
Perhaps it’s because we all want something to challenge us at the start of a new year. Or maybe it really is just because “everyone else is doing it.”
No matter the reason, we all have 364 days left in 2025 to make this year our best yet. So get out and do whatever is on your mind with a positive mindset and success will surely follow.
And don’t worry if that pesky 10 pounds is still around on Feb. 1. Statistics say that’s totally normal.