Should you try making resolutions on your birthday, instead of January 1?

TRADITIONALLY the New Year has been the time chosen by many people to launch a fresh set of goals.

Like clockwork, these individuals set goals to lose weight, finish school, learn to drive, buy a car, get the ring, get the man, and the list goes on and on.

But recently, a popular trend has been to set goals on one’s birthday instead of January 1 (unless you’re born on that date), as the birthday is technically a person’s new year, and working towards the new vision could be the gift you give yourself.

It is also said that birthdays are more sentimental, and people often attach more meaning to what they’ve achieved as they approach their next birthday, rather than December 31/January 1.

Psychologist and chief ideator of Above and Beyond, Dr Leachim Semaj, recommends choosing one resolution, whether on your birthday or New Year’s Day, and sticking to it.

“Both of those are excellent times when people feel driven to do something with their lives, but the main problem with resolutions, whether you do it on your birthday or New Year’s Day, is that: one, you choose too many things, and two, you don’t realise how complex you are,” he said.

“You have good and bad — the result of everything you’ve done so far, and so you can’t arbitrarily say, I’m going to name 10 things that I’m going to change. The result is that 95 per cent of resolutions are not kept.”

He added: “Every one resolution has 10, 20 different parts to it, so it’s unlikely to do all the things required. Say, for example, you resolve that you are going to go back to school and finish your degree. For you to do that, you have to take into consideration how you are going to get the money, how you are going to get time off from work, what things you’re going to give up, who is going to help you with the children, and where you are going to find the extra time to study on the weekends. If all you did was just say that you’re going back [to school]without taking into consideration all those basic things, you’ll end up failing. Can you imagine having five or six resolutions and each of them has those components? You’d fall right back into the same rut,” he reasoned.

“The same goes if you decide you want to lose 20 pounds. You have to do something about your diet, exercise, the places you go, the friends you keep, as you have friends who eat everything and always encourage you to eat. So by making one resolution, you create a vision of what things are going to be like when you achieve that, and then you work on your goals for the next 100 days, plan for the first month, and do what has to be done each day.”

The psychologist further stated that setting goals is something you should be sure you are ready to do, as life is a series of rituals that are difficult to break.

“It’s very hard to give up a ritual without properly replacing it with another ritual, or else you end up falling into the same rut you were in before. So choose one, break down all the component parts to it, create a vision of what it’s going to look like or be like when you achieve, work out the steps, plan the details of the first month, and act on it each day. If you can find somebody to accompany you on the journey — even better, because if somebody is doing it with you and motivating you, and you’re helping each other to strengthen each other, it’s much easier than if you’re doing it alone and no one is helping you to do it,” he explained.

He maintained that whether on your birthday or on New Year’s Day, the resolution is no different. You just have to do it right.