New Year’s Resolutions Or Goal’s; What’s The Difference And Why Does It Matter

Most people like to start the year off by making some New Year’s resolutions. It is exciting to think it is a brand New Year and the slate has been cleared from whatever we haven’t accomplished the year before.  What exactly is a New Year’s resolution versus a goal. Haven’t a lot of us set goals at sometime in our life? Is our goals the same as our resolutions? One is set at the beginning of the year, resolutions, and goals can be set at any point throughout the year.

Let’s begin by starting off with resolutions since we are at the beginning of the year. Resolutions are when we resolve to make a long lasting change in our life. Some New Year’s resolutions could be to get fit this year so you resolve to go to the gym three times a week. Or you could resolve to be more charitable and so you will give more of your time and/or money to charity. You could resolve to be a better parent, boss or employee. A big resolution for some people is to quit smoking or drinking excessively. Whatever you decide, your New Year’s resolution is generally a decision to do or not do something for a long period of time in your life.
Goals are different in that they are usually shorter in duration and are more defined in general. For example if you are setting goals, they should be written down SMART goals. Specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time bound.

As you can see, goals take more time to think about and are very detailed in nature whereas a New Year’s resolution is a thought. Every year gyms tend to be crowded in January and throughout the year tapers off. Why is that? Life can get in the way of resolutions. While the intention may be good to have some New Year’s resolutions, especially if everyone else appears to have some, make this the year that you set some really SMART goals.  The difference between resolutions and goals matter if you are serious about wanting to accomplish something you set out to do when reflect back at the end of the year.

Happy New Year. Here’s to successful goal setting and accomplishing in 2019.