Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2013-12-30

As the last few days of a fatigued 2013 begin setting upon the horizon taking with it all that encompassed a good or bad year, billions of people around the globe will be excited for the arrival of 2014.

It’s been a turbulent year, filled with a tinge of inspiration, but also massive embarrassing bouts of political folly, fraud corruption and a whole lot of other nasty’s that made people gasp in horror.

2013 will be remembered as the saddest year in South African history with the passing of the benevolent statesman, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

So a new year with a silver lining waits to make a grand entre; a new beginning that comes with a preface of resolutions that requires a concerted effort to enact.

The weapons of the scribe are unleashed and a clean sheet is drawn to engrave the commandments people bestow upon themselves for the path ahead. Thought, effort and time are some of the many ingredients that make up the recipe, at the end, which whole-heartedly lays ambitious success.

Jessica Lamb Shapiro writes: The practice of making resolutions itself dates back to ancient Babylon, who made promises to their gods for the New Year, often having to do with concrete, easily achievable tasks like vowing to return borrowed farm equipment. Now promises are made to ourselves and are primarily psychological in nature. With the threat of godly repercussion removed and more complex problems to solve, the odds of success are significantly reduced.”

But how obedient are people to the resolutions they craft year after year? New Year’s resolutions have become a farce that could be adapted in a comic book garnering a good laugh or like a recipe if not followed meticulously, could flop and becomes another cake in your face experiment.

I say that because initially new resolutions become a mantra with a force field to metamorphose and aspire the author to attain ecstatic emotional ecstasy and wellbeing as laid down by the “divine” doctrine.

However as the year ages, they become little nuances that barely get a second glance and become “by the ways.”

Why do so many people fail at goal-setting, and what are the secrets behind those who succeed? The explosion of studies into how the brain works has more experts attempting to explain the science behind why we make resolutions—and more relevantly, how we can keep them.

According to Dan Diamond of Forbes, many people use the New Year as an opportunity to make large bucket lists or attempt extreme makeovers, whether personal or professional.

That’s a nice aspiration, experts say—but the average person has so many competing priorities that this type of approach is doomed to failure. Essentially, shooting for the moon can be so psychologically daunting, you end up failing to launch in the first place.

So how many people are true to the tablets that bare their resolutions?

Statistics show that through the first week 75% of people maintain the resolutions they made at the beginning of the year. This number diminishes to 46% after six months. At the end, Just 8% of people achieve their New Year's resolutions.

To be clear: Simply setting a goal does raise your chances of achieving that goal, significantly.

But within weeks or months, people begin abandoning their resolutions as they hit bumps in the road that throw them off their stride.

More often than not, people who fail to keep their resolutions blame their own lack of willpower. In surveys, these would-be resolvers repeatedly say that if only they had more self-determination, they would’ve overcome any hurdles and achieved their goals.

In one study led by a Stanford University psychologist, scientists gauged whether test subjects believed they could exhaust their willpower, and sought to convince them otherwise. The researchers found that people “performed better or worse [on tests] depending on their belief in the durability of willpower.”

You have as much willpower as you think you have, essentially. Which means that on some level, your journey toward self-improvement will be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Quoting Frank Ra (author of the New Year’s resolution book "A course in happiness" "Resolutions are more sustainable when shared, both in terms of with whom you share the benefits of your resolution, and with whom you share the path of maintaining your resolution.

There will be many resolutions made before the birth of the New Year and whether they will impact the scribe or just wither away like pollen in the wind to germinate again next year will be the test of time.  

Mark Twain once said, “New Year’s Day now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”

Echoed by Mark Twain, TS Elliot said for last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)