New Year's resolutions: How many people make them, break them — and how to keep them

Jim Abbott, Daytona Beach News-Journal
·5 min read

Amid all the ball drops and midnight toasts, New Year’s Eve also is the time for another annual tradition: the New Year’s resolution.

As the clean slate of a coming year looms on the horizon, many folks see the occasion as an opportunity to finally lose those 15 pounds, stop smoking, start exercising, finally learn the guitar or tackle other elusive goals.

How many of us still make resolutions? How many of us break them? And how about some helpful tips to keep them in 2024?

Here’s what you need to know about New Year’s resolutions:

How many people make New Year’s resolutions?

Making a New Year’s resolution remains a common practice, especially in the United States, according to a 2022 poll by YouGov that found 37% of Americans said they had a goal or resolution they wanted to achieve in 2023, with 87% stating they were “very” or “somewhat likely” to keep it through the year.

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U.S. adults are also ambitious about goals for the coming year. A separate 2020 survey from New Urban Plates/Ipsos found that while nearly two in five respondents had a single goal in mind for the upcoming year, 18% reported having multiple goals.

What are the most popular resolutions for 2024?

A new survey from Forbes Health/OnePoll of 1,000 U.S. adults, conducted on Oct. 23, 2023, looked at Americans’ attitudes about resolutions and what types of goals were priorities.

The most popular resolutions:

  • Improved fitness (48%)

  • Improved finances (38%)

  • Improved mental health (36%)

  • Lose weight (34%)

  • Improved diet (32%)

Less popular resolutions include traveling more (6%), meditating regularly (5%), drinking less alcohol (3%) and performing better at work (3%).

Among other results:

  • 62% of respondents said they feel pressured to set a new year’s resolution.

  • Women (64%) feel slightly more pressured to set a resolution than men (60%).

  • 55% of respondents said physical and mental health are of equal importance.

  • Women (36%) and men (36%) equally cited improved mental health as a top resolution for 2024. However, women are more likely to focus on fitness (52%) in 2024 compared to men (42%).

  • 20% of respondents say they keep themselves accountable when it comes to sticking to their goals. This represents a huge decline compared to last year’s survey, when 77% said they would be accountable.

  • Overall, 80% of respondents feel confident in their ability to reach their goals, and only 6% lack this confidence.

How long does the average New Year's resolution last?

Here’s where the grim reality sets in.

Failing at New Year’s resolutions is so common that there’s even a slew of unofficial dates commemorating such failures, the list includes “Ditch New Year’s Resolutions Day” on Jan. 17 and the unofficially designated “Quitter’s Day” on the second Friday in January.

The Forbes Health/One Poll survey found that the average resolution lasts 3.74 months. The poll also revealed that just 8% of respondents tend to stick with their goals for one month, while 22% last two months, 22% last three months and 13% last four months.

Other studies indicate that the types of goals also matter when it comes to success.

Research in PLoS One, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Public Library of Science, suggests action-oriented goals are more likely to result in success after a year than avoidance-oriented goals (58.9% vs. 47.1% ).

On the hopeful side, it’s possible to re-commit to goals any time, not just on New Year’s Eve.

In that spirit, June 1 is unofficially known by many as “New Year’s Resolution Recommitment Day,” offering a reminder that it’s never too late to push the re-set button on abandoned resolutions.

What are top tips for achieving New Year’s resolutions?

Here are seven ideas to reach your goals in 2024 from UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California:

  • Be picky about your resolutions: Experts recommend limiting your goals when it comes to New Year’s resolutions. Pick one, maybe two things you’d like to focus on and go all in.

  • Plan your resolution: Think through how you want to accomplish your resolution and how long it might take to reach your goal. Proper planning will help ensure you can see it through to the end.

  • Set very specific goals: Be detailed in your resolution. It could be “exercise 30 minutes daily.” This gives you a measurable goal to reach that you can check off your list.

  • Don’t take on too much: Start small. If you’d like to lose weight, pick a small but realistic weight loss goal. Setting small goals can help you achieve big results.

  • Choose a new resolution: Avoid picking a goal that you’ve tried in the past but failed. Instead, pick something different where you can set up a better path to success.

  • Identify accountability partners for support: Lean on people — whether it’s a friend to keep your exercise resolution on track, or a spouse to help with healthier eating habits. We function better with community around us.

  • Give your resolution time to become a habit: New routines don’t just become habit overnight. A 2009 study found that on average, it takes 66 days to form a new habit. Be patient with yourself.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New Year's resolutions are still a popular ritual, but many don't last