resolution

Why You Should Skip Making New Year’s Resolutions

January 2, 2017 By Alexa Mason 6 Comments

It’s that time of the year again. My guess is that you’re beginning to think about putting together a list of New Year’s resolutions if you haven’t already begun to do so. If you have started and you’re planning to make some this year, I think you should consider skipping them. That’s right. Don’t even bother making them. Take a stand and boycott the whole tradition. Refuse to get suckered into a yearly game that gives the impression that it’ll help you do the things you want, but actually does you more harm than good. How do New Year’s Resolutions hurt? Let me explain the ways:

They’re a Delay Tactic

First and foremost, these resolutions are nothing more than a delay tactic. They’re an easy way to delay something that you know you should start the moment you think about it instead of waiting until the beginning of the year. Think about it. If it’s important enough that you want to make the change and resolve to do so, shouldn’t it be important enough to begin right that moment? Instead, you’ll wait until the New Year. I believe that if something is important enough to make as a New Year’s Resolution, then it’s something that’s important enough to begin working towards the minute you decide it’s that important. Learn to begin goals immediately. Once you have decided the change you want to make, commit to begin planning how to reach the goal starting that day rather than delaying them to some arbitrary date in the future.

There’s Too Easy an Out

Even worse than the delay, these resolutions provide you with an easy cop-out which allows you to quit and not feel bad about it. The problem is that most people never follow through with the New Year’s Resolutions they make, and everyone knows it. The result is that nobody will hold you to any resolutions you make because they don’t expect you to keep them. At the first sign of difficulty, you’re in an easy position to give up and nobody will say a thing. It’s different if you make solid goals and announce them to friends and family. In this case, they are much more likely to ask about the goals and try to hold you to them. This is especially true if you ask for friends and family to support you in trying to reach them. When you do this, it makes it much more difficult to quit, and you’re more likely to work through those difficult stretches than if you simply make a resolution.

There’s a Lack of Preparation

Another problem with resolutions made at the beginning of the New Year is that they are often made without the proper preparation needed to succeed. The fact is, making successful changes to your life requires a lot of work, stamina and discipline. If you don’t do the initial research and preparations to make sure that your resolution succeeds, you’ll likely never achieve it. Most New Year’s Resolutions are simply statements made without any of the proper planning in place which makes them much more likely to fail.

They’re Too Broad

When the proper planning hasn’t been done, the resolutions people make are often unrealistic because they’re so broad. Achieving goals isn’t instantaneous. You don’t get to the top of a mountain in a single step. It takes a lot of planning, effort and small steps along the way. No matter how much you wish, you aren’t going to be able to wipe out all the credit card debt which has been building for years in a couple of months. You’ll need to work at it one step at a time, chipping away at each of the debts that need to be retired. If the resolution remains broad without any focus on the important steps needed to reach the ultimate goal, the resolution will almost always end in failure.

They’re Often Absolute

Another problem is that these resolutions tend to be absolute with little to no room for the obstacles that are bound to happen. This makes giving them up easy the first time an obstacle arises, since they’re often made as “all or nothing” statements where any deviation means you fail. Life, unfortunately, often deals a number of setbacks on the way to reaching a goal. If there is no recourse on how to proceed when an obstacle occurs, then the goal will likely be abandoned. For example, if the resolution is “I will save $100 a month,” then failing to save a $100 any month can be seen as a failure. If, however, you make a goal to save $1200 with an average of $100 a month, it doesn’t matter if you only save $80 in January as you can make up for it by saving $120 in February.

They’re Made for Wrong Reasons

Too many New Year’s Resolutions are simply made for the wrong reasons. If you’re 100% committed to accomplishing something, then it is a goal worth pursuing. If you are making a resolution because it’s something that you would like to change, but aren’t willing to put in the time and effort needed to make it happen, then it’s going to fail. For many, New Year’s Resolutions are nothing more than things they wished they could change without having to make any effort. In order to succeed, you’ll need the passion that will only come from you firmly wanting to reach the goal. If you aren’t, it’s better not to make it until you’re ready.

It’s Bad Timing

January is a terrible time to start your resolutions. Granted, there will likely never be a perfect time to begin, but the New Year can be one of the worst times to be making major changes. You’re tired after the holidays. Instead of resting, you make drastic changes when you may not have the physical or psychological energy to make them work. Piling on resolutions with all of the other issues that need to be dealt with at the beginning of the New Year can make it that much harder for them to succeed.

There are Too Many Made

This leads to another major problem which is that people make too many resolutions all at the same time. Achieving the goal of getting your finances in order is a monumental task in itself, but making it work while losing 20 pounds, exercising an extra 2 hours a day, reorganizing your house and quitting smoking makes success impossible. It’s important to prioritize your goals and work on them as time permits rather than mixing them all together at the beginning of the New Year.

They Have a Negative Impact

Over time, New Year’s Resolutions have a negative impact on your motivation and success. When you make resolutions year after year and the resolutions fail year after year, it becomes easy to believe that they can’t be accomplished. These failures at the beginning of each year compile to the point where it’s easy to simply give up on your goals entirely after a while.

They Don’t Work

In the end, New Year’s Resolutions simply don’t work. They are far too often made without the commitment needed for them to work. If you have goals, take the proper steps to do your research, set up a step by step plan, measure your progress, understand there will be setbacks, and make sure that you truly achieve what you set out to accomplish.

Here is a challenge you aren’t likely to see much at this time of year. I challenge you to not to make any New Year’s Resolutions for 2014. Instead, take the most important goals and begin laying the groundwork on how you can achieve them this very minute. That way when 2015 arrives, instead of rehashing the same list you are currently thinking about, you will be checking off a list of goals that you managed to accomplish during the year

(Photo courtesy of Jennuine Captures)

Have You Already Given Up?

January 23, 2009 By John Cain 3 Comments

The age-old list of New Year’s resolutions is common among most Americans. Eat less, learn more, play more, exercise more, and save more are fairly typical items on our lists. As you’ve probably witnessed though, most resolutions are left by the wayside before too many weeks have passed. It’s been three — are you still holding to yours?

One of the reasons our resolve gives, is that the resolutions are sometimes created as mere tasks without a clearly defined goal attached. What enjoyment do we get out of eating less? At least for me, the answer is “not much”. For resolutions to be meaningful and have a twinkling chance of success, the motivation for an end result should drive them. Therefore eating less shouldn’t be the resolution, but losing 15 pounds by July 4 or being able to fit into a certain size dress.

When it comes to money, the majority of people think that saving money is a worthy task, but it is so easy to venture away from that resolution. Saving money for the sake of saving money is not likely to be an extended successful venture. It is too difficult to withstand the onslaught of competing monetary demands without some other motivating factor. I have been a big money saver for years, but it is only recently that I have kicked it into hyper gear. The reason is that I now have a goal; a difficult, but worthy one nonetheless. My new goal for the family is to pay off our mortgage and be completely debt free within 6 years. We’ve only been in the house 4 years, but I want the freedom that comes from being completely debt free and that has made all my delayed gratification tasks that much easier to bear. By keeping our eyes on the “prize” the penny-pinching and budgeting becomes tolerable and even a little fun.

If you resolved to save money this year, consider changing that to a specific, achievable goal. For starters, I’ve given a list of goals that might make those tough money decisions a little easier.

Buy your next vehicle with cash
Develop a savings nest egg of $25,000 (or some other suitable amount)
Pay off your home mortgage in 5 years (or some other designated time period)
Pay for your child(ren)’s college education
Buy a boat
Take a 2-week vacation to Hawaii
Buy a vacation villa in Hilton Head or some other beachy location
Purchase that large screen television
Save enough to invest in the stock market
Retire at age 59

The above list is by no means exhaustive. There are hundreds of other worthy goals. The trick is to pick one that will really drive you. If you can make a goal the focus, saving money will be much easier.

Six Financial New Year’s Resolutions That You Might Actually Keep

December 27, 2007 By Jennifer Derrick 3 Comments

It’s time to make your New Year’s resolutions. You know the ones: You swear to lose fifty pounds by swimsuit season, exercise more, stop smoking, get out of debt and, if you have the time, get a better job, volunteer more, and open your own business. If you’re like most people, you’ll be discouraged and off the wagon by February. It’s not that New Year’s resolutions are bad; it’s that most of them are too big, nebulous, and unrealistic to give you a chance of success.

I can’t help you stop smoking or lose weight, but I can help you with your financial resolutions. Rather than taking on big tasks, like completely eliminating all debt and cutting out all unnecessary spending (not that these aren’t worthy goals, but for many people they’re going to take longer than a year), why not try something a little more manageable? Here are six financial New Year’s resolutions that are small enough to be doable, but large enough that they can make a difference in your financial picture by the end of 2018.

1. Promise to save something each paycheck, no matter how little. The hardest thing about saving money is getting into the habit. This year, try saving just $10 or $20 from each paycheck in a high yield savings account. Don’t touch the money unless it’s a dire emergency (and no, that new outfit isn’t a dire emergency). To make this easier, have the money automatically deducted from your paycheck so you never see it. Most people can easily come up with a small amount to save each pay period just by sacrificing one lunch or dinner out. Once you establish the saving habit and see that balance grow, you’ll find it becomes easier to save a little more, and then more still.

2. Pay off one debt. Just one. Whether it’s a student loan, a credit card, or a car loan, vow to pay off just one debt this year (and then don’t replace it with another debt). The satisfaction you’ll get from paying off that one thing will probably push you to pay off more. But even if it doesn’t, you’ve still kept your resolution because you paid off one debt. That’s one more debt you won’t be carrying next year.

3. Learn something about finance. It doesn’t matter what you choose to learn, but take the time to learn one new thing about personal finance. Whether you want to learn more about taxes, insurance, investment products, retirement funding, the stock market, or owning a small business, pick one topic and teach yourself. You can get books from the library, read personal finance or business magazines and newspapers, or read finance articles on the web. Hang out in Internet forums that cater to your topic and learn from the experiences of others. At the end of the year, you’ll have accumulated a body of knowledge that will help you make financial decisions in the future. One of the biggest problems people face when trying to better their financial situation is lack of knowledge and a feeling that, “It’s all over my head.” Education empowers you to overcome that problem.

4. Pick one area of your spending and work on controlling it. Rather than eliminating all unnecessary spending (which usually leads to a spending binge when you start to feel deprived), look at your finances and identify one problem area and work on fixing it. Maybe you eat out too much or buy too many toys for the kids. Maybe your weakness is clothes or shoes. Figure out where your financial drains are and plug one of them this year. Once you get one area under control, you can tackle another problem area if you’re motivated. Just make sure that you don’t take the money you’re saving and spend it on something else. Put it in your savings account or use it to pay down a debt. Then you’ll be tackling two or more resolutions at once!

5. Take care of one financial chore you’ve been putting off. Maybe you know you need a will or to set up a power of attorney. Maybe you need to reevaluate your current insurance policies or buy additional insurance. Maybe you know you can get a better deal on some services your household uses, but you’ve put off making the switch. These sorts of chores are time-consuming and not very much fun, which is why they get put off. Pick just one chore you need to do and resolve to do it this year. Having tackled one, you may be inspired to take care of another. But if not, at least one area of your financial picture will be better off than last year.

6. Save something for retirement. If you aren’t saving for retirement, vow to start doing so, even if you only put a tiny bit away. If you’re eligible for a 401k, sign up to have a percent or two deducted from your paycheck and put in the plan. If your company matches your contribution, try to contribute enough to get the full match; it’s free money. If you can’t get into a company-sponsored plan, open your own IRA. Contribute what you can. Next year, try to contribute more.

Even if you only complete a couple of these resolutions this year, you’ll see a difference in your financial picture next year and beyond. The satisfaction you get from completing these small resolutions may lead you to take on more financial improvements. Even if you don’t complete any more than one or two of these resolutions you will have moved your financial life in a positive direction, which is more than most New Year’s resolvers will accomplish year.