by Aminah Khan, Elise Tran, Lindsey Nguyen and John Le, Staff Writers
Dear SAT,
Every single year, I try to create New Year’s Resolutions, but I find that my motivation dwindles away and I give up less than a month in. How do I keep up my New Year’s Resolutions?
Sincerely,
Broken Bob
Able Aminah: New Year’s resolutions can be hard! That’s why most people give up their resolutions after the first week or so. Think about why you’re keeping your resolution in the first place. People tend to dive straight into their resolutions which often results in them giving up very soon. Try easing your way in and make modifications to your resolutions so that your results are actually attainable. The hardest part is getting into the habit so you must be diligent in your work ethic. If you have goals like working out more or getting better grades, then the best way to achieve it is by creating a schedule to organize all of your activities. It won’t be easy at first but if you stick to it, you’ll soon see results. Remember: you KHAN do it!
Effective Elise: Ahhhh, New Year’s resolutions: the promise that you make to better yourselves, but you never follow through with it. Even though it’s pretty clear that we won’t actually complete our resolutions, it’s useful to just make them anyway. I find it better to have the intention of improving oneself by creating goals than just giving up on them. At least you’re trying, right? Now, if you want to continue with the real deal by applying your resolutions to your life, here are some (unqualified) tips. Write your resolution down somewhere! Maybe place a small list on your work table, so it sits there reminding (or haunting) you every day you sit down to get to work. Also make sure you feel motivated because if you really don’t want to do it, don’t!
Laidback Lindsey: Why are you even considering this? We all know you want to lose some of that body pudge (Susan) or do that cool skate trick (Greg) but guess what? No one cares. Don’t come up to me with that “I’m doing this for me and me only” excuse, Bob because we all know you’re doing it for Cindy. I mean if you actually think you can keep it up then good for you. I sure can’t relate. The most simple, smart-alec response is to just do it and follow through. You can’t make a cheat sheet to remind yourself or daily reminders because if you really wanted to do it, you wouldn’t need to push yourself so hard. It’s the new year, why would you want to start off stressed about it anyway? Just chill and be glad that you survived another year of whatever this is. The only thing you need to worry about is finals and how the death of net neutrality will affect you.
Judgy John: From my personal experiences, I always fail my New Year’s resolution. The final verdict: don’t do it. Let’s be real here, you’re going to have so much motivation in the beginning. Then, it all dies down. Your “cheat days” become every day in your diet, and you give up going to the gym. It takes a lot of time and effort for a New Year’s resolution, and honestly, you can be doing so much more. Take the new year to explore new things rather than to focus on that one goal. Go on a hike, explore the streets of Los Angeles, try the world’s spiciest curry: the possibilities are endless. Question the world and why natural disasters happen. You have so much more things to do rather than focus on one goal.
