According to this article in The Guardian, ” In the US, 44% of new year resolutions last two to three months; only 6% last a year..”
About 40% of Americans make resolutions, but this varies by age. Younger adults (59% of those ages 18 to 34 versus 19% of those older than 55), which I would ascribe to the optimism of youth versus the resignation of those whose past resolutions haven’t really improved their fitness or finances.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I don’t make resolutions, but when I’m home on New Year’s Eve (as I am this year), I spend some time reflecting on the year that’s passed and thinking about what I want in the year that’s about to start. I write myself a letter. And pause at midnight when my neighbors go bonkers with the fireworks. I love NYE!
I don’t think I’ve ever known a person who makes New Year resolutions both unironically and regularly. Sometimes I wonder if the whole tradition is a fiction, often commented on but never actually taking place.
Oh, I think resolutions are made. That’s why gym memberships are pushed heavily in January (12% of new memberships, versus 1/12=8% expected). 50% quit within 6 months.
But a good resolution is like a good annual objectives at work. The relevant acronym is The SMART for five crucial qualities your goals should have:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-bound
Like most objectives employees make at work, most New Year’s resolutions usually fail on one or more counts. That’s certainly true of most resolutions to lose weight, get fitter, etc.
Yeah, there are some things I miss about working at Megacorp. Goal-setting and review? Nuh-uh.
I was never one to make New Year’s resolutions, but 53 years ago, slightly inebriated and overly proud of recently giving up my pack-a-day cigarette habit* I resolved to become a vegetarian. And it stuck. To be honest, it was not just a drunken lark, since I had been mulling the idea for a while, but it was kind of like throwing a switch and there was no going back.
*I really can’t take too much credit for this, either. I had given it some half hearted efforts in the past to no avail. Then one morning I woke up and somehow knew I would never smoke another cigarette. Never had the desire. Even kept a half empty pack of cigarettes laying around for a couple of months. That hardly counts as a triumph of willpower over a bad habit, it’s more like the bad habit just slunk off into the shadows.
A gym just opened up in my town today, in the space that was Spirit Halloween. I asked about annual memberships. They said “Don’t bother. In February this is going to be a flower shop.”
I went down to the fitness center at the Fancy New Apartment building today at the usual time, around 6:30. It was quite crowded, including someone using “my” treadmill. I don’t know that resolutions had anything to do with it, or just that it was a day off and some people chose that time.
I came back in a half hour, and it was empty.
Some years ago I made my last resolution. I have kept it ever since.
“I will not make any more resolutions.”