I resolve not to resolve

It is that time of year, it being cold and dark and dreary, to amuse ourselves by making resolutions for the new year. My research shows that resolutions suffer a die-off of about 20% a month, so that at the end of the year approximately 1% of our good intentions will still be active.

In the practice of medicine, in the presence of such awful results, we would do a “root cause analysis,” which is another way of saying “if we keep this up, we’ll all end up in jail.” Why do only 1% of resolutions make it to the finish line?

To begin with, most resolutions are unrealistic. If we are making a reso...

 

Reader Comments(0)