New Year is usually viewed as a good time to start, goals, hobbies or habits. Significant temporal landmarks like a new year provide a natural opportunity to reflect on the past and set intentions for positive change, making it a psychologically opportune moment to start new habits or pursue ambitious goals, called the “fresh start effect.” Is it a useful reminder, or a trap limiting people’s actions? Different perspectives have risen while not all goals are achieved. Researchers suggest that only 9% of Americans who make resolutions complete them. In fact, research goes on to show that 23% of people quit their resolutions by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January. People are constantly changing, if your mind will change just within a week after you set the goals, is it still relevant to spend that effort and time?
“At the beginning of the year, I plan to be more productive and organized. I try to set 3 goals of being productive, clean, and focused,” said Sarah Lee, a freshman from NDB. The start of a new year aligns with the beginning of the second semester of a school year. Referring to their academic calendar, students usually make goals to enhance productivity and improve study habits.
Lee continued, “I usually accomplish my plan of being productive, but not the other plans. I try to do my homework right after school and do it the night it is assigned. I think my busy schedule keeps me from being clean. I always try to clean my room but sometimes I can’t.”
“I don’t have any specific plans. I just want to study hard and finish my homework. I completed some small goals, but not all of them. Sometimes addicted to mobile phones like to procrastinate. I usually finish when I first make a plan, but after a while, I start to get lazy. It feels like a lack of drive is preventing me from completing my plan. I haven’t made any plans for this year.” said Sabrina Gong, a sophomore at NDB.
With the development of technology, distractive factors have increased slightly. Social media, video games and easier access to streaming media, platforms are more attractive to teenagers and are easy to get addicted to, which would interfere with their producibility and keep them from achieving their goals.
Goals associated with study tend to be successfully accomplished while other goals, which involve extra time in everyday life, are laid aside, especially when a student is busy working on curriculum.
Sometimes people set goals that are too difficult or unrealistic for them to achieve based on their current skills, resources, and capabilities, and they do not want to give up, which would increase the risk of anxiety and lack of motivation.
There are a lot of articles online teaching people ways to avoid giving up goals. However, sometimes it is obligatory to make a choice or temporarily give up some of them. In an article written by Dorie Clark called When to Give Up on Your Goals, Clarck emphasizes that it is appropriate to give up some goals “When your goals have adverse consequences, when your goals impede other objectives, and when your goals are no longer appropriate.”
