Here the Reason 92% of New Years Resolutions Fail

Here we are rushing headlong into the second month of 2018, so it’s almost time to consider the New Year’s resolution fail rate. How is your resolve doing? Are the habit changes you have taken on starting to take hold? Or…not so much


According to Tripsavvy.com, the universal resolutions for 2018 are:



Spend more time with family and friends
Find more time for physical fitness
Lose weight
Quit smoking
Enjoy life more
Quit drinking
Get out of debt
Learn something new
Help others more
Get organized

Even though this is the 2018 list, I’m confident in saying that this list is probably something that has been recycled year after year. So, why is it that habit change needs to be resolved yearly?


How come 92% of New Year’s Resolutions Fail

There’s no lack of information available on any of the resolutions on the list – there are books, apps, seminars and workshops, support groups, organizations (YMCA, health clubs, MOGs, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Curves, Consumer Credit Counseling), OTC and prescription medication (Chantix, Nicorette, Nicoderm, Hydroxycut, Garcinia Cambogia extract, Meratrim, Orlistat, lorcaserin, Contrave, Saxenda, phentermine) – there’s quite a collection of knowledge out there!


Yet even with all this knowledge available, our resolutions spin endlessly on the merry-go-round every year. And sometimes with determination… as in “THIS year I’m gonna lose weight” or “THIS is my year to quit smoking.” How come?


Here’s The Answer To The Burning Question

The average time for the accountability of a resolution is 6 weeks. The average time for habit change to take hold is 12 weeks. Herein lies the disparity … we give up before our transformation can become a habit. Knowing something doesn’t mean anything more than knowing it. Knowledge is knowledge, it’s not habit change. Transformation happens when we get out of our thoughts and into the present. Change is affected in the present moment – a choice to eat a banana instead of a cookie happens when the foods are in front of you and not in your thinking and planning of what you’ll do or eat later.


Resolutions Will Stop Failing When We Keep The Goal In Mind Longer

Perhaps mindfulness should be the goal. We can only focus on one thing at a time, practicing being mindful crowds out being mindless. Mindless eating, spending, drinking, or smoking can be eliminated if we resolve to be mindful, present and focused in the moment. Try it!


The post Here the Reason 92% of New Years Resolutions Fail appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.

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Published on January 24, 2018 12:43
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