Resolutions: Yay or nay?

We live in a society where having resolutions is highly praised, rather than actually completing these goals. In fact some "estimates say that 40% of Americans make New Year resolutions, but the University of Scranton research suggest that just 8% of people actually achieve their goals". My question remains: why do we still make resolutions? 

The simple fact here is that when we think of a New Year we immediately feel like it's an opportunity to start life as a blank slate. We fall into a spiral of thinking that the renewal of a year represents entirely new beginnings and we tend to put big labels on it, tricking ourselves into thinking that the past 365 or 366 days behind us mean nothing at all. 

What's more interesting is that retail companies have also learned to market this idiosyncrasies. Labels like Kikki.K seem to somehow sell us our ideal New Year resolutions package. Even though marketing of this sort is essential to the economy of any country and is practically harmless, it nonetheless creates a mass of people who seem to buzz with excitement in the moment and forget everything as soon as the excitement dies down.

All this hype boils down to the psychology of the masses. Mass psychology occurs when a large group of people start thinking the same way as everyone else around them, very much the same as mass hysteria. That is exactly why the countdown in Times Square is said to be the most exhilarating experience for anyone who finds themselves in the midst of the crowd. The central idea behind this is that hype has literally become the opiate of the masses. Now with social media as our faithful tools, spreading a psychology has never been easier. 

What we can do to change this unproductive way of self enhancement should be our very next question. 

Floating around, feeling happy about having a set of resolutions and practically doing nothing about them is never going to get anyone anywhere. In fact The Four-Hour Workweek, New York Times bestselling author, Tim Ferriss, admitted "I haven't written New Year's resolutions for roughly six years". Instead the author sits himself down and does a "post-game analysis with a series of exercises and odd questions" about the lessons he had learnt in the past year. This may work for some but not all. The point is, do whatever it is that makes you feel the most productive. Following a route that makes everything look fancy but unproductive is only going to put you in a slump. 

Enhancing oneself should be done in a way that's unique and personal to the person itself. Last, but not least, a new year is just another tomorrow or simply a new day. When we begin to look at everyday as something special it will give us the opportunity to feel like we are able to do great things on a daily basis, rather than having an annual moment of extreme motivation to do something, but eventually having all the motivation drain out." Don't let resolution become the way you define yourself!