![['Frankly Speaking with Frank Likely']](https://saltwire.imgix.net/frankly-speaking-with-frank-likely-3160022.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance)
Dear Friends,
Before you ask, “NO, I have not made my New Year's resolutions yet, and NO, I am not going to make any!” New Year\s resolutions are a recipe for failure, and the date would seem to agree with me on that.
A survey taken in Great Britain a couple of years ago found that a whopping 42 per cent of people who had made resolutions admitted to breaking them within one week. That figure rises to 66 per cent failure by the end of a month, and by the end of three months, 80 per cent of people had broken their resolutions. It appears there is little resolve in most people's resolutions!
While the survey makes no correlation, it appears that the type of resolution people make has some impact on its successful keeping. The usual promises to lose weight, get fitter, and eat better prove to be the hardest to keep. About 90 per cent of people make one or more of these resolutions and as noted earlier, some 80 per cent of them will fail within a matter of weeks, if not days.
These are what might be called the lifestyle resolutions, which call for major changes in the way one lives his/her life. They are certainly much harder to keep; they usually take longer to see results and thus are more easily broken.
Then there are the resolutions I would call the pleasure ones. They are things like resolving to spend more time with family and friends or volunteering a bit more. They are easier to keep because they are easier to do and one sees results almost immediately. Only about 15% of people make these type resolutions, which by coincidence is about the same percentage of people who actually say they have kept their resolutions for a whole year.
I'm not making resolutions, but good luck with yours. All the best for 2019!
Frank Likely is a retired Anglican minister who lives in Springhill
