By now, some people have already given up on their New Year’s resolution. That’s a shame. More common in the western hemisphere, New Year’s resolutions give people motivation to become a better version of themselves than the past year. Personally, I use New Year resolutions motivate me to try to achieve a goal without procrastinating or giving up.

The most popular resolutions in America include the the following: losing weight, getting organized, money management, getting rid of a bad habit, spending more time with family, and helping others. I feel like if you have a trait about yourself that you want to change you should try to make a resolution out of it like for example I am a very disorganized person so this year I decided to make a resolution to be more organized.

About 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions every year while 38 percent of americans never make resolutions. Some people don’t believe in resolutions or think that they aren’t going to be successful so why should they bother to try. Out of the 45 percent of people who make resolutions, 47 percent of them are self improvement or education related, 38 percent weight related, and 34 percent money related. Many people, such as myself, try to improve different aspects of ourselves each year.

Most adults make resolutions to exercise more or be healthier. Many people today have body image issues or in some cases just want to be healthy to have a better lifestyle. Which is a good resolution to have if you are doing it for the right reasons. But although many people make New Year’s resolutions, only 8 percent of those people are successful with to their resolutions for the entirety of the year.

Although the statistics for success are low resolutions are still helpful because  the statistics just show the people who quit or gave up so if you keep being determined to achieve your goal you might still be successful. Speaking with experience, resolutions of any type are hard to keep without quitting or taking breaks every once in awhile. One thing I do to try to actually accomplish my resolution is to tell a bunch of my friends about my resolution whether it be trying to lose weight or being more organized so they can remind and motivate me.    

The intended outcome of a New Year’s resolution is to make people change for the better which makes them very useful. That being said, while this widespread tradition might be seen as unhelpful to some, it has been proven to help those who participate improve themselves.