New Year's Resolutions 2022

Photo by Choong Deng Xiang on Unsplash

 In many cultures, it is traditional to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year, in January. Many people believe that the custom of making resolutions goes back for centuries and was started in Chinese antiquity.

Some researchers believe that the reason we are more likely to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year is that people tend to think of their lives as a series of different chapters. The new year is the beginning of one of these chapters, and it symbolizes a new start and a chance to begin again.

Maybe you are sceptical and feel that it is not possible to keep your new year’s resolutions. However, research has suggested that 35% of people succeeded in keeping all their resolutions and achieved all the goals they had set for themselves and that a further 50% of people managed to achieve some of the goals.

Do you ever make new year’s resolutions and find it impossible to keep them? Many kinds of goals are avoidance goals. These are goals of things that we wish to stop doing. For example, to stop eating junk food, to reduce the amount of caffeine we consume, or to cut down on our use of social media. Because these are negative goals, we are more likely to fail. The other kind of goals are approach goals. These are positive changes that we wish to make. If we want to stick to our goals, we should use approach goals, as they are positive. For example, instead of saying that you want to avoid junk food, you could say that you want to increase your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables.

It seems to be all about having a positive attitude towards change.

If you find that you have failed to keep your resolutions, you can always start again at the beginning of a new month, as this is another way of creating a fresh start for yourself. In this way, you can avoid failure.

If you teach English language learners, there are many great resolutions that they can make at the beginning of a new year. It is the perfect time to reassess their goals and how far they have come in reaching and accomplishing them. Maybe your learners' language learning goals have changed over the past year, or maybe they have achieved them and it is time to set some more.

If you are looking for some ideas to get your learners started, here are some good resolutions that you could suggest.

Do something in English for ten minutes every single day. It can be listening to something, or reading something. 

Reflect on your progress and write a learning journal.

Learn the phonemic script, so that you can easily check the pronunciation of any new words in a dictionary.

Read extensively in English to increase your vocabulary, grammar, and many other skills. Students can think about joining my online bookclub, where they can read and discuss literature in a supportive and international environment.

What about you? Do you make resolutions every January? Do you usually accomplish any goals you set yourself, or are you put off by setbacks? 

I sometimes set new goals for myself at the beginning of a new year, but also at other memorable points throughout the year, such as when I begin a new project. I feel that it is very motivating to have a particular goal in mind and it is rewarding when you achieve it. 

This year I am already in the middle of completing a major goal, and I have plenty of challenges already with my MA studies. However, some of my other new year's resolutions are to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone and to develop my skills as a trainer. I also want to work smarter, not harder, by improving my time management, not being continually distracted by social media, turn off notifications, cut down my to-do list.  Working online has the major disadvantage of blurring the lines between life and work and of constantly feeling like you are working. I fail miserably at distinguishing between the two, although my work is basically my life, so I don't care so much about that one at the moment! 

It is important to remember that it is ok to make only slow progress. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to change something. If you find it hard to keep motivated, it is a good idea to tell someone else about your goal. It's very motivating, and you are more likely to keep going if you know that they will be asking you about it!