My old alma mater—the University of Scranton—recently made the news with a year-old study on New Year’s resolutions.
Richard Asa reported in the Chicago Tribune on December 16, 2014 that “a 2013 University of Scranton study found that 8 percent of people achieve their New Year’s goals. Part of the reason: Resolutions are often not accompanied by an achievable or realistic plan, says Carrie Krawiec, executive director of the Michigan Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a practicing therapist at Birmingham Maple Clinic in Troy, Mich.”
“When it comes to children, ‘parents can start by helping (them) set reasonable expectations,’ says Krawiec, who specializes in helping families create adaptive routines and solve problems. ‘I often tell clients that “happiness equals reality equals expectations.” A good goal, or resolution, should be specific, positive, future focused and only just challenging enough.’”
For my part, after trying and failing for decades to keep New Year’s resolutions, I came upon one ten years ago that I’ve been keeping ever since. Every year in the past decade, I made a New Year’s resolution not to turn down any free lunches, and, so far, I haven’t .
Try it. I highly recommend it. Happy New Year!
