5…4…3…2…1! The clock strikes midnight, the ball drops, the glasses clink and everyone cheers. Amidst all the chaos and celebration, you make a silent promise to yourself: this year will finally be the year that you get it together. 

You tell yourself that you’ll finally start exercising. That you’ll finally lose weight, or spend less money, or read more often or whatever other goals you want to achieve. But actually following through with them? Yeah, right. 

In fact, I’ll bet many of you went into 2020 with the mindset that it was going to be “your year”…. and look how well that worked out for everyone. I’ll admit that even if outside circumstances that made up the craziness of this year hadn’t happened, I still would have broken my New Year’s resolutions.

If that sounds like you, you’re not alone. People often slack off on their “resolutions” within the week they’re made, and come February, more than 80 percent of people have given up entirely. And that’s the truth of the matter: New Year’s resolutions are pointless. 

I know it’s a controversial stance: what happened to ‘new year new me’? The New Year is supposed to represent hope and change, a time where everyone can transform themselves from who they are into who they want to be. But that trope is played out, and quite frankly, just plain untrue. New Year’s Resolutions are mostly an overcorrection from the holiday season that people create to make themselves feel better.

Don’t get me wrong, setting goals for yourself is a great life skill. It gives you something to strive for, as well as a way to track your progress. However, people often set goals for the new year that are unattainable, and as a result, quickly give up their motivation.

For example, challenging yourself to go to the gym every day might be a great idea for some, but that may simply not be possible to work into their schedule. So, instead of revising their resolution to visit the gym a few times a week, they stop going to the gym entirely.

Another example would be deciding to eat only organic foods for the good of your health and the planet. While that’s a great idea in theory, it’s very expensive, so people might abandon the goal entirely, instead of merely adjusting it to a sustainable practice.

My point is this: the concept of New Year’s resolutions are overrated. They are used as an excuse to justify your cheat days, a way to avoid any progress you might make until “the time is right.”