What Makes Some People Keep Their New Year’s Resolutions And Others Not?

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to exercise. So it’s not strange that the gyms are full and the streets are full of cyclists and people running in the first weeks of the year.

These desires with which we all tend to start the new year are the result of a motivation that, as time passes, dissipates. After all, what makes some people keep their New Year’s resolutions and others not?

As David McClelland, professor of psychology at Harvard University, says in his book The Study of Human Motivation , motivation to fulfill a purpose comes from an initial desire, the excitement of acquiring a new skill, and the pleasant sense of progress.

But why is it so difficult to achieve our goals without discipline?

Discipline is required to fulfill New Year’s resolutions

We must bear in mind that when we started the year, many had just arrived on vacation. We are rested, full of desire to do new things and with the feeling that the new year invites us to change.

However, the rigidity, the changes that do not manifest themselves, the fatigue of work, the responsibilities… all this starts to be noticed from the second month onwards.

So, when we stop exercising, we make excuses (it’s raining, it’s very cold, I’m sick, etc.) and, little by little, the initial motivation fades away.

Added to all of this is the fact that, in a month, we haven’t made any changes to the diet and we haven’t noticed any physical changes in the body… this causes frustration and we ended up giving up. All of this could be avoided with discipline.

Discipline is a set of norms and rules that we follow because they make us feel good or because we should. A good example is brushing our teeth every day when we get up, however lazy we may be. This is discipline, and it can also be incorporated into physical exercise.   But how? Doing the most important thing, which is to start introducing sport into our lives gradually.

How can we stay motivated?

What makes some people able to fulfill their New Year’s wishes is the motivation they manage to maintain. Therefore, in order not to lose sight of our goals and continue to exercise, it is advisable to keep some advice in mind.

• Choose an activity that interests us: it doesn’t necessarily have to be running, it can be yoga, spinning or walking after work. It’s almost impossible to stay motivated and disciplined if we don’t like the activity we’re doing. Cheer up! There are a wide range of options to choose from!

• Start small: A habit is not built overnight. It is important to introduce some changes little by little. An example of this is starting going to the gym twice a week and, after a month, increasing the number of times, and so on. In this way, the practice adjusts to daily life.
• Meet people who like to exercise: if we attend group classes or go for a run every day in the same place, we will end up meeting people who also attend these environments. It is possible to end up making an appointment to exercise together with that person, forming a friendship.

All of this advice is fundamental to achieving the discipline that will help us to finally become people who fulfill your New Year’s wishes.

Also, over time, we will start to see changes. We will notice the desired weight loss, we will feel more agile, etc. This will serve as an incentive to strive and improve even more.

Although motivation allows us to make decisions and start taking small steps to start playing sports, only discipline can make our New Year’s wishes come true. We won’t always feel like it, sometimes time won’t cooperate, etc.

However, how many times do we overcome laziness and, after exercising, we end up feeling a lot better? We can’t let this be another year of failed attempts to introduce physical activity into our lives.

We must choose well, start small and be patient. With discipline, we will finally be able to know why some people fulfill their New Year’s wishes and why we weren’t able to do so before.