Go ahead: Smoke, drink, keep eating chocolate.
Celebrate the new year by skipping the whole resolution rigmarole.
Because, if you’re like most Americans, by the middle of February you’ll be back to your old habits anyway.
Resolutions are “one of the nation’s most masochistic traditions,” according to Stephen Shapiro, an author who recently released a survey on the topic.
People set themselves up for failure by leaping into an often-drastic life change without a plan on how to execute it, Shapiro said. It’s not that the Boston-based author is against improving your life–after all, he’s written the how-to book “Goal Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want Now.”
He thinks people go about it all wrong.
“Society has done this to people, and we’ve convinced ourselves that this is what we ought to be doing,” he said.
“When you do this every year, and every year you are setting the same stupid goal, that should tell you something,” said Gary Coxe, a life strategist and author of “Don’t Let Others Rent Space in Your Head.”
He suggests first thinking about why you want to change a particular behavior and what price you are willing to pay. For example, if you want to lose weight for your health, are you willing to give up cheese and pastrami in the middle of the night? If the answer is yes, you can begin to take small steps toward the goal, praising steps in the right direction you take.
If you forgo the resolution this year, you’ll be part of a trend, Shapiro said.
A few years ago, 88 percent of people made New Year’s resolutions. Now, he said, the number is closer to 45 percent.
