What is your New Year resolution

2023 - 1 - 4

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Image courtesy of "Bloomberg"

Using Science to Help You Keep Your New Year's Resolution (Bloomberg)

Hi, it's Cynthia in New York. For me, the term “resolute” conjures up an image of a person who's admirably unwavering in their conviction.

I wondered, for starters, why we would even attempt becoming better people in winter — a time when we all want to binge Netflix in our pajamas while eating macaroni and cheese. To understand why we’re so unanimously bad at keeping resolutions, I turned to science. Yet when I think of the word “resolutions,” I think of empty promises.

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Image courtesy of "The New York Times"

Have You Made Any New Year's Resolutions? (The New York Times)

I have these words in mind as I greet a New Year that will mark my 70th birthday by yet again resolving, as Johnson did, to rise earlier, resist hurtful ...

Or do you prefer to make small and incremental changes throughout the year? Do you think most people, even the most accomplished among us, feel like they have not done enough or that there are changes they need to make to improve their lives? For Johnson, however, the critical question was not whether he’d accomplished great things but whether he’d accomplished them in proportion to his talents and his limited time. It’s now commonplace in English literature courses to speak of the mid-to-late 18th century as “the age of Johnson.” His contemporaries would not have been surprised. They would have cited his elegant Rambler essays, his groundbreaking edition of Shakespeare’s plays and his monumental “A Dictionary of the English Language,” remnants of which survive in any dictionary you’re likely to pick up today. To be a more faithful friend and a more attentive parent and spouse.

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Image courtesy of "menshealth.com"

How to Keep Your New Year's Fitness Resolutions (menshealth.com)

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS are an easy target to hate, especially in the gym. Dedicated workout warriors commit to fitness all year long, so why be generous to ...

"You have to expect that it's gonna take longer than you think," says Jack. "The challenge of prevention generally is you don't see the immediate results. "Just breeding life into some of those things again, ultimately bubble them up and then they might start to become a part of your activity calendar again." But accomplishing that goal takes effort in several areas; you'll need to [sleep](https://www.menshealth.com/health/a42323144/is-6-hours-of-sleep-enough/) enough, prioritize exercise, and stay in a [calorie deficit](https://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/a19536783/calorie-deficit/). If you focus on one thing at a time, you give yourself four weeks to make that goal a habit—then all your habits will build on each other. Appeal to other priorities you have by stacking them with your fitness, Conroy says. When your kid gets sick, taking them to the doctor will take precedence over your need to go to the gym. You can only work on one thing at a time because, you know, we're human and there's only so much we can do," says David Conroy, PhD, professor and researcher on the psychology of motivation at Penn State University. "Unless you've got that massive motivation and you're ready for a complete life switch, it's just not gonna happen," says Jack. Next step: answering the question of how you'll overcome the odds and stick to your New Year's resolutions. There's more to setting resolutions than the annual cycle of fair weather gym attendees—and everyone could do with a little more committed goal setting. Part of that dismal success rate might be due to the prevailing attitudes of the incumbent fitness community toward certain types of newbies.

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Image courtesy of "UChicago Medicine"

New Year's resolutions for healthy kids and families (UChicago Medicine)

A pediatrician and a family physician share simple, realistic resolutions that kids, teenagers and families can make for a healthier new year.

Dr. Turakhia is a family practice physician who delivers expert primary care to adults and children at UChicago Medicine at Ingalls-Tinley Park. Jamen-Esposito is a pediatrician providing comprehensive care to children of all ages at UChicago Medicine at Dearborn Station. Puja Turakhia, MD is a UChicago Medicine Medical Group provider. Erin Jamen-Esposito, MD, is a UChicago Medicine Medical Group provider. If you’re struggling to keep a resolution, it’s a learning opportunity to figure out why – and then to modify that goal. It helps to have a family member to whom you are accountable for reaching your goals. There's nothing wrong with having to redo your New Year's resolution in the middle of April. It may last less than 30 minutes, but short conversations can seed bigger ones later. This can be on any night of the week. If your family is interested in making resolutions this year, don’t forget to make them specific, measurable and realistic. You can have a monthly family meeting to discuss your progress.

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Image courtesy of "Psychology Today"

Ditch Your New Year's Resolution for a Better One in 2023 (Psychology Today)

Using willpower or quick fixes to achieve goals often results in failure. Instead of making a highly ambitious New Year's resolution, it can be more ...

A useful tip Mazar shares for cultivating desired habits is to reduce the "friction" between oneself and the desired behavior. Building better habits can ensure that our goals, and our For instance, instead of relying on our “The practical advice is to link the intended behavior to situational cues that provide good opportunities to initiate them,” says Martiny-Huenger. While we may have the right idea about what we want to improve, it is the “how are we going to achieve it” piece that is lacking. Our desire for a "fresh start" makes it tempting to set highly ambitious resolutions. According to another study by his colleague, Wendy Wood, habits form nearly 40 percent of our daily behaviors. The idea is to incorporate a desired behavior into our roster of default behaviors. We assume that we brew our morning espresso because we feel tired or underslept. Relying purely on willpower to achieve our goals will often result in failure. Setting our sights on quick fixes to long-standing problems won’t work either. But we all know how hard it is to keep up with these resolutions.

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Image courtesy of "Asahi Shimbun"

VOX POPULI: Already broken your New Year's resolution? Join the ... (Asahi Shimbun)

“Mikka bozu” is a Japanese idiom for quitting something you started only three days ago. Business consultant Yoshiaki Noguchi notes in his book "Konsarutanto no ...

Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture. The first three days of the new year have come and gone. In every volume, his daily entries became sporadic around March, and by autumn, all the pages were completely blank. “You off the wagon already?” asks one of his mates. Here’s an example provided by Noguchi: Your purpose is to go abroad to study two years from now. Here is an old joke: A man makes a wish and swears off drinking for three years.

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Image courtesy of "Texas A&M University"

How To Set -- And Keep -- Your New Year's Resolutions (Texas A&M University)

From creating goals to evaluating them, wellness experts offer advice on how to identify and achieve desired changes for 2023. By Paul Schattenberg, Texas A&M ...

“Once that is a regular habit, set another goal to run a 5K within three to six months and then a 10K, gradually working up to a half-marathon and then a full marathon.” “Then take a close and realistic look at the behavior you have chosen and think of a specific goal that would reflect where you would like to be through modifying that behavior. “Look at the behaviors you have identified and choose the one you most want to concentrate on improving,” she said. “This awareness and understanding are foundational to where you must focus in order to build a healthy lifestyle.” “However, there are other aspects of your life to consider, such as emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social and occupational wellness.” “Developing a well-balanced life is vital for personal wellness, but can differ depending on environment, culture, circumstance, resources and other factors.”

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Image courtesy of "Education Week"

Here's How to Start Your New Year on the Right Foot (Opinion) (Education Week)

Helping Students Thrive Now ... Angela Duckworth and other behavioral-science experts offer advice to teachers based on scientific research. To submit questions, ...

In the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: A goal without a plan is just a wish. Ask yourself, “What holds me back?” And then think of a strategy. Ultimately, I decided to move my work commitments to start at 9 a.m. I started with the idea that I’d wake up at 5 a.m. You need a way to bridge your current intentions with your future actions. Instead, you need a strategy.

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Image courtesy of "Goshen News"

EMILY CHRIST: Rethink your New Year's resolution (Goshen News)

It's that time when we start to ring in the new year with friends, family, and New Year's resolutions. We begin to make plans for what we expect the future.

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Image courtesy of "Forbes"

Try This New Year's Resolution For Your Emergency Fund (Forbes)

The traditional guidance for emergency funds has been to save for 3 - 6 months of living expenses. A better recommendation should incorporate the ...

Sometimes, it is not enough to have the right message. First, given the concern of a looming recession, it is timely. What these findings illustrate is that, in the event of job loss, certain communities may find it more difficult to secure a subsequent role. Historically, the rationale for this explanation has been that this is the average length of time it would take an individual to find a new job after experiencing unemployment. She recommends sticking to a regular financial checkup routine, and highlights that SUMA offers a free one on their platform. It is not outside the realm of possibility, then, that it can take much longer than 3 - 6 months to find a new role. Second, it recognizes the disparities previously discussed as a result of the gender and racial wealth gaps. Per the [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/1e5432a6-a32e-403a-b0f6-c85db854b7ca), “In recent months, employment has already dropped off in several industries that disproportionately employ workers of color, including retail, transportation and warehousing.” Whether it’s recommitting to your physical health or setting goals for a promotion, the new year is a popular time for individuals to envision and plan an optimal future for themselves. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, this should come as no surprise. A study released from the The specter of continued job cuts continues to hang heavy, especially after a series of high-profile [layoffs](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/tech-layoffs-2022.html) in the tech sector.

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