How to Teach Your Students to Make Purposeful New Year Resolutions

While your Christmas lights may still be glowing, the New Year draws near. I hope you are taking time to rest. I saw a meme the other day that said, “When you realize 2022 is pronounced 2020 too…” and it showed a picture of someone looking quite nervous. Many emotions accompany the close of one year and the start of a new one. For some, the past year was filled with joy, accomplishments, and sweet memories, while for others, they experienced immense pain, loss, and a year they would prefer to forget. For most, there is a sense of hope of a fresh start coupled with a small amount of anxious anticipation to see what is in store for them.

As humans, we rely heavily on time. The start of the day, the end of the day. The beginning of the week, the close of a week. The beginning of one season, and the transition to a new season of life. The end of a year, and the start of a brand new year. Within these time constraints, we find ourselves reflecting and planning. From this was born the worldwide idea of “New Year Resolutions.”

Resolution: a firm decision to do or not to do something.

What is a New Year Resolution?

According to a quick Google search, a resolution is a “firm decision to do or not to do something.” Historically, people use the end of a new year to reflect on the previous year and set goals for themselves for the next year. The purpose of these goals or resolutions is to improve your life. Typically, these goals fall into various categories such as physical, mental, relational, etc. Examples would be: to drink 80 ounces of water every day, to work out for a least 30 minutes a day 5 days a week, to take 15 minutes for mindfulness each day, or to text or call a loved one 4 days a week to check-in, etc.

However, many studies have found the success rate of following through with new year resolutions is incredibly low. In fact, on average, less than 10% of Americans feel like they were successful in holding to their goal!

Why Should We Make New Year Resolutions?

If the success rate is seemingly so low, why even bother setting goals at the start of the New Year? Well, I think it is important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. If you recall, the reason we make these goals is to become better in one way or another, and that is a vitally important thing. If we don’t make plans to grow, we never will. If we never challenge ourselves, we will stay stagnant. Instead of throwing these Resolutions out altogether, I propose we simply modify our approach to them.

3 Aspects a Successful New Year Resolution Must Have:

In order to find success in setting your New Year resolutions, you should change your mindset of the resolutions which will also change the wording of your resolutions. The first step is to reflect on your previous year. Ask yourself probing questions like “What went well?” “What could have gone better” “What was joyful?” “What was painful?” “How did you grow?” and “What areas do you think you should still grow some more?”

Next, phrase your goal as a commitment to yourself. While our goals will have effects on other people, ultimately it is for ourselves. So commit to yourself a purposeful, attainable, and actionable goal with the intention of growing into a person who is flourishing wherever life has planted you.

1. Purposeful

Most people probably assume their goals are pretty purposeful. However, I urge you to increase the “purposefulness” of your commitment. Use your time of reflection, and the questions above to help form the purpose of your goal. What do your want your life’s purpose to be? How does that impact the purpose of your smaller goals? Allow your goals to be deeply intentional. Give a reason to the WHY you are committing to something. Not that you will complete them perfectly, but will you be further along in a certain area by the end of the year? That is your purpose. To be further along in your journey than you are today. So for example, instead of saying, “I will work out for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week,” try purposing to yourself by wording it like this, “I commit to taking the time to care for my physical body by participating in consistent weekly exercise so that I am invigorated throughout the day and can better serve those around me.”

2. Attainable

This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised by the number of goals that we set that really are unattainable. For instance, do not resolve to drink a gallon of water every day. Because let me tell you, there will be days you will not be able to drink an entire gallon of water. So instead of saying, “I will drink a gallon of water every day,” perhaps phrase it like this, “I commit to hydrating my body consistently by drinking a healthy amount of water each day so that my body is rid of toxins and I feel better energized to complete my daily tasks.”

3. Actionable

Lastly, you will not reach your goals unless they are actionable. Each goal needs to have an action step. How will you get started with your goal? You will need to be prepared in order to set yourself up for success. This does not necessarily have to be found within your commitment statement, but it should be written intentionally. For example, maybe your goal is, “I commit to intentionally cultivating the relationships in my life by encouraging a loved one by weekly writing a hand-written note to them and sending it in the mail or handing it to them when I see them.” “Action step: find some cheerful stationery and purchase stamps at Costco to last the year.”

How to Teach This Idea to Students

Now we have discussed New Year Resolutions through and through, how do we present this to our younger kiddos? It is important to instruct students in purposeful, attainable, and actionable goal setting. Here are some ideas to help you teach your students this method of goal setting.

1. Talk through what a resolution is and is not.
2. Explain why goals sometimes fail.
3. Discuss the purpose of goals.
4. Have students brainstorm examples of attainable goals and and unattainable goals.
5. After coming up with some attainable goals, come up with some action steps for those goals.
6. Then have students write their own resolutions with action steps.

Here are some resources to guide your instruction!

Happy New Year and Best Wishes with Your New Commitments!!