Many of us start the new year with the best intentions: We want to be healthier, richer, more professionally fulfilled and more present with our loved ones. But as the days start ticking by, those goals are harder to maintain, replaced by old habits and the comfort of our regular routines.
A third of Americans make at least one resolution each year, and more than half make at least two, according to the Pew Research Center. Academic research discovered that people who framed their resolutions starting with “I will,” versus “I won’t” (“I will run twice a week,” versus, “I won’t eat cookies,” for example) were more likely to stick to their goals. Sixty percent of people with positive approach-oriented resolutions kept them for over a year.
