A month ago, many of us vowed to better ourselves in the form of a New Years resolution. Many of us are working to achieve our goal(s), but even more of us stopped pursuing our goals January second. 

The most common types of New Year’s resolutions here in the U.S. often involve the improvement of health. They tend to include broad statements such as lose weight or diet, workout more or improve mental health, according to the website goskills. Another popular yet odd resolution is to actually hold oneself accountable for their New Year’s resolutions.

That being said, many people don’t hold themselves accountable. Why resolutions fail can be accredited to multiple things; but the most common reason is that the “new year, new me” mindset calls for too many changes at once. 

Even when a goal or resolution has the characteristics of a SMART goal, it can demand too many changes at once. Such as, the resolution to have a healthy lifestyle dictates a change in physical activity, diet, and mental health. It’s hard enough to form one habit, let alone multiple at once. 

It comes as no surprise to the public that resolutions often fail– but the statistics from Forbes that two thirds of resolutions are neglected after simply a month may come as more of a shock. This time frame is where we find ourselves in 2020 today.

While many of the population has given up, where do Central students stand on attaining their goals? Out of those surveyed, it didn’t seem that many even made resolutions. In fact, 55% of those polled didn’t create one.

“The resolution starts when you need it, not when the new year begins,” said one anonymous Central student to justify why they don’t make New Year’s resolutions.

For those who did make resolutions, 44 percent related to exercise as many American resolutions do. Of those resolutions, 75 percent coincided with the objective to lose weight or eat healthier. In fact, only 22 percent of the resolutions surveyed didn’t include either of these elements.

One of the anonymous central students said their resolution was to “write down one thing that made me smile each day.” This may not fall into the categories of exercise and dieting, but it does fall into the other most common resolution category: betterment of mental health. More common resolutions from Central students included to stress less, stay positive, and sleep more which also fall into that category. These are aspirations many students have, but don’t always work towards.

As for the students who did create resolutions, 57 percent predicted they will succeed for they are still working towards it. In contrast, the same students when later asked how often they have followed through with their resolutions before reported only a 19 percent success rate. 

“This is the first time,” said one anonymous source. 

The true success rate of all the resolutions made each year, according to Inc, is a slim 8 percent. That being said, it looks like Central students are doing better than the average American at reaching their goals.