S03 - E07 - Jan 6, 2019
New Year’s Resolutions
Resolutions
- Favorite past time of New Year's
- Even get marketing statements: New Year, New You
- Gyms are overrun
- But is this new? How long have humans done this? And can you actually succeed?
History
- Babylonians recorded first type of resolutions during festival - Akitu
- Mid-March
- 12 day celebration with planting of first crops
- Promised the gods to repay debts and return borrowed things
- Following through meant favor with the gods
- Julius Caesar establishes current calendar
- Circa 46 BCE, January 1 established as first of new year
- January named after Janus - god of two faces of doorways and arches
- Looks backward and forward in time
- Romans made promises of good conduct
- Resolutions as we know them
- Diary of Anne Halkett, a writer and member of the Scottish gentry
- Page titled “Resolutions”
- Dated January 2
- Full of pledges, like “I will not offend anymore.”
- “The full phrase is found in the January 1st issue of a Boston newspaper from 1813, in a short article titled ‘The Friday Lecture’
- “And yet, I believe there are multitudes of people, accustomed to receive injunctions of new year resolutions, who will sin all the month of December, with a serious determination of beginning the new year with new resolutions and new behaviour, and with the full belief that they shall thus expiate (X Pee Ate) and wipe away all their former faults.”
- This quote tells us two things
- “New Year’s resolutions” had been a thing for at least 200 years
- People used their upcoming resolutions as an excuse to party hard before the clock striking midnight
Resolutions Throughout History
- Served in Parliament and as a naval administrator
- Made famous because of his diaries
- Maintained them from 1659-1669
- Recorded his life nearly every day
- Arguably the best account of the 1660s we have
- “My chiefest thought is now to get a good wife for Tom (his brother)”
- “I have newly taken a solemn oath about abstaining from plays and wine”
- Author of Gulliver’s Travels
- One of the greatest satirists to have lived
- 1669 - for when he’s older
- “Not to be fond of Children, or let them come near me hardly.”
- “Not to boast of my former beauty, or strength, or favor with Ladyes, &c.”
- Author of Waiting for Godot
- 1984
- Asked by New York Times to contribute his resolutions
- Answer:
- "resolutions colon zero stop period hopes colon zero stop beckett”
- Lose weight
- Eat healthy
- Manage stress
- Travel
- Get a better job
The Science of Resolutions
- About 80% of all resolutions fail by February
- How to increase your chance of success
- If you like what you do, you have a better shot at long-term success
- Short term pleasures taken from the change mean the change is now perceived as positive and desirable - something worth seeking out and doing
- Change only one behavior at a time to prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed
- Keep goals small and manageable
- Ex: don’t schedule seven days a week at the gym if you don’t already have a routine
References