With a new year comes a new burst of energy, new motivation, new changes, and New Year’s resolutions.  

Dating back to the Babylonian era, the original New Year’s resolution came in the form of promises to the gods from people vowing to make good on their debts as well as to make promises to return farming equipment borrowed from others. The new year was also the start of the farming season, so it was imperative that everyone did their best to keep their promises because it would mean that the gods would favor them in the coming year and bless them with a bountiful harvest.

Since that era, the concept of a New Year’s promise or New Year’s goals have greatly evolved from making sacrifices and promises to deities in return for good luck or harvest to reflecting on mistakes that were made in the past year and vowing to do better. 

Today, the modern New Year’s resolution is generally a commitment a person makes to themself starting from the beginning of the year. The metaphorical slate is wiped clean and there is renewed interest to improve or reinvent themselves. The hard part now is finding a resolution and keeping to it.

According to a survey conducted by Forbes Health, among the top five New Year’s resolutions that were made in 2024, most were centered on health and wellbeing with 48% of respondents choosing to work on physical fitness, 36% on improving mental health, 34% on losing weight, and 32% on eating healthier. The last of the top five resolutions was to improve finances, at 38%. 

However, not all New Year’s resolutions need to be focused on fitness or finances despite being the most common ones. Some can be for self-improvement while others can be more for fun and enjoyment. Below are some examples of resolutions that might be considered when thinking about goals for the new year:

• Read one book a month
• Take one photo of yourself every week to see how you’ve changed throughout the year
• Learn a new recipe every month
• Stay hydrated by drinking at least 1.5 to 2 liters of water a day
• Have at least an hour of no-screen time per day

It can be challenging to start a goal once you’ve chosen it, and even more challenging to keep it going once you have started. In the same survey by Forbes Health, 22% of respondents abandoned their resolutions by the second or third month, while only about 6% said they were still keeping up with their resolutions after a year. The fear of failure often holds many people back from maintaining their new routine, with some people thinking along the lines of, “I’ll never be able to learn a new recipe every month, might as well stop now!”

In that case, more important than achieving your resolution, it’s very important to be forgiving of yourself when progress is not made the way you expected or is delayed due to external circumstances. The goals that are set on January 1st do not have to stay that way and can shift or transform as time goes on to fit whatever your life transforms into as well. If someone is not able to learn a new recipe every month, perhaps they might want to modify an old recipe for next month. If it’s difficult to start or finish a book in the month of March due to IB mock exams or preparing for the PYP Exhibition, a good idea would be to start or resume the book once those exams or events are over. 

A New Year’s resolution does not need to be rigid and set in stone. The pressure you put on yourself to achieve your resolution is only as hard as you make it. People are changing in different ways constantly and your goals can also change along with you, because at the end of the day your goals will always be for yourself, first and foremost. 

References:

Pruitt, Sarah. “The History of New Year’s Resolutions | HISTORY.” HISTORY, 30 Dec. 2015, www.history.com/articles/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions.

Davis, Sarah. “New Year’s Resolutions Statistics 2023.” Forbes Health, 11 Jan. 2023, www.forbes.com/health/mind/new-years-resolutions-statistics/.

Press, Common Sense. “30 New Year’s Resolutions for Kids That Truly Stick.” Common Sense Press, 12 Dec. 2025, commonsensepress.com/new-years-resolutions-for-kids/. Accessed 24 Dec. 2025.

Dizik, Alina. “Why Your New Year’s Resolutions Often Fail.” Bbc.com, BBC, 26 Dec. 2016, www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20161220-why-your-new-years-resolutions-often-fail.

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