By John Cody Treadaway, Staff Writer
As everyone knows, people have made their New Year’s resolutions, otherwise known as goals to meet for the upcoming year that won’t actually be met.
There is no point to resolutions, because people simply don’t have the determination to follow through with them.
“There’s no point, because no one ever does them,” Reynolds High School senior Larry Rogers said.
Junior Joey Kimmel agreed: “No one goes through with them.”
Making a goal and not doing it has no point, so why take the time to even think about it?
If you look at any YMCA at the beginning of the year, chances are the parking lot will be pretty full. Toward the middle of February, some spots will open up. Once mid-March hits, you’re almost guaranteed a front-row parking space.
The same goes for churches: The amount of attendees goes up in January, but by the end of March the amount of churchgoers goes back to its original number.
One of the main reasons why resolutions aren’t followed is because they are set too high and people don’t give them what I call “checkpoint goals.” Checkpoint goals are like smaller goals that you aim for in order to get to your ultimate goal.
For example, if your resolution is one of the classic ones – to lose a certain amount of weight, say 30 pounds – don’t just set that goal alone. You should first set the amount of time you want to take reaching that goal. Let’s say you want to lose that weight in six months, here’s where checkpoint goals come into play. Set a goal for each week on how much you want to lose.
For this situation, focus on losing one or two pounds every week and you’ve made your goal realistic, safe and more obtainable.
On top of that, why not have goals that keep you going. Don’t just make the one resolution: Always try to find some other ventures to take. Make more goals, say one every month, and find a way to make that goal happen.
You want to get your grades up? Set a goal to improve that grade, and then get there by making checkpoint goals to study more, get your homework done, and anything else that would help your grade specifically. Find what you’re lacking and improve it. Don’t be content with it or any of the most popular problems people resolve to fix. According to U.S. government data, among the most popular resolutions every year are to eat better, exercise more, learn more, get a better job, reduce debt, save money, find ways to manage stress, take a vacation and volunteer more.
All are nice ideas – most of which won’t be followed because people make their goals too high or don’t have checkpoints to help them get to the main objective.
Set goals, not New Year’s resolutions.