Why do we even need to do New Year’s resolutions? I started thinking about this question when I was in 7th grade. Before that, I just made a plan because my parents told me to, but did not know the meaning behind it. Every year, I have a tacit understanding that my plans won’t go to plan and my goals won’t be completed. It always starts off with the first couple of days that I work so hard to make changes, but later on, I try to find an excuse for not feeling guilty about not getting these things done and imagining how hard I will work tomorrow. Then, things start getting a little bit uncertain, I keep pushing the work to my “best buddy” called tomorrow, which will give these things to her “twin sister” called forever. 

A New Year’s resolution is “a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year” (dictionary.cambridge.org). Simply put, it means working to become the person you want to be. It is not a plan that you can only activate on January 1st you can start it whenever you are ready. “Some changes I want to make for next year…are to prioritize my studies more in order to achieve a greater sense of understanding and knowledge regarding my academics as well as learning how to manage my time better, or scheduling my time to efficiently work better” Zoey Hsu (9) states. A daily to-do list is a small step towards accomplishing your yearly goal, and the New Year resolution is a small step toward the right direction in your long-term life. Zoey Hsu (9) added some of her own ways to keep accomplishing her resolution plans too! I “separate my school work into more manageable sections, forming smarter ways to efficiently study and complete tasks, as well as overall learning how to balance my studies and personal free time by setting reminders for myself to prevent possible procrastination from occurring.” I believe the person who is reading this article right now definitely understands those truths, but the real problem is more on the goal and actions.

More and more young people in this society are beginning to feel the boredom of life. They still do whatever they are supposed to do at the right age, but they never feel that it is related to them. During adolescence, the human brain is in a period of rapid development, and the energy has reached the most prosperous stage of life. If teenagers do not have grand or solid goals at this time to spend their energy on, it goes in the direction of emptiness and resentment. According to what William Damon wrote in the book A Path to Purpose, “A stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at the same time meaningful to the self and consequential for the world beyond the self.” The two important factors he meant are that the goal should be meaningful to yourself (find the direction to move forward and achieve balance in life) and meaningful to the world et lofty goals, unify personal goals with social goals and gain a sense of calling).

To start a plan, you need to speak the truth yourself, what you really know, and what you really need to work on. With this, you can use the PDCA cycle model and the SMART goals. PDCA cycle model is to plan, do, check, and act. And SMART goals, believe that you are already pretty familiar with it, are to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. The goals can be in “mini habits” which means if you want to lose weight this year, instead of saying “I will do 30 push-ups a day!” Do one, only one push-up, but you must do at least one every day. That’s how mini habits slowly become your real habit, a plan that you can accomplish a mini change every day no matter how busy you are. Of course, if you want to do more it’s, but you have to knock down that one push-up every day. Please remember that habits are not so easy to change, but when you make a behavior into a habit, you don’t have to work so hard to maintain it. Take your time, and make action now.