December is a magical month. It seems as though the rest of the year is simply an 11-month long preparation for those 16 days at the tail end of the year. It is a time when retailers and mass media go on an all-out sensory assault on the consumer with Christmas carols, Boney M, decorations and so-called Christmas giveaways. We look forward to getting together with family, hideously decorated shopping malls, buying ridiculously expensive gifts and finally telling the Managing Director what we really think of his mouthy wife while under the influence of the year-end office party punch. The atmosphere is thick with goodwill and cheer. ‘Tis indeed the season to be jolly. Like the saying goes here in South Africa “Ke Dezemba boss”

Apart from the excessive partying, we also take this time to look to the future. We look back on our past year and resolve to make lasting and long overdue changes. We are touched by the plight of the poor and pledge to donate more to charity in the coming year. We commit to quitting fizzy drinks and pork chops as we wheeze and pant our way up 3 flights of stairs. We body shame ourselves and promise to work out more as we swipe through the Instagram Fitspiration models on our feeds. We commit to furthering our education by enrolling in some sort of course after our child asks for help with homework and realise we have no idea what the words in their Grade 4 books mean. For those of us who are more spiritually inclined, we look forward to the New Year Church service. With spectacular titles as “Crossover Night”, “Let Me Pass New Years’ Service” and “Night of New Beginnings”, we pack stadiums and conference centres in eager anticipation of the Man or Woman of God’s declaration for the coming year. We eagerly mark the respective bible verses with neon lime highlighters and even commit them to heart. And there you have it. We have compiled our New Years’ Resolutions. We are committed. We are resolute. We are true. Then why is it that 80% of these resolutions, for most of the population, are either abandoned or clean forgotten by Valentine’s day?

I have to admit that I fall squarely into this demographic. I have been making New Year resolutions every year for the past 20 Years and my success rate is between 10 and 12 percent. So, this year instead of jumping head first into committing to new resolutions, I decided to look deeper and find out where this practice came from and why we participate in it year after year. Little did I know, I have been engaging in an activity that has some deep origins. According to History.com, the early life of the New Years’ Resolutions can be traced back about 4 000 years ago to the Babylonians, citizens of what was then Mesopotamia, who celebrated the new year in March, which was when the crops were planted. The 12-day festival, known as Akitu, was a time for the Babylonians to make promises, such as settling debts and returning property that wasn’t theirs to its owner. They believed that maintaining these promises would be rewarded with good fortune in the following year.

Beginning around 46 B.C., the Roman emperor Julius Caesar had moved the first day of the year to January 1. The month of January derives its name from Janus, the two-faced god who was believed to look backward into the old year and forwards into the new. Janus was also said to be the patron and guardian of changes, time, gates, doors, doorways, endings and beginnings. Like the Babylonians, the Romans made declarations of good acts to Janus before the New Year arrived. The Romans though, made resolutions with a principled core, such as being good and fair to each other. When the Roman Empire took Christianity as its official state religion sometime in the 4th century, these ethical goals were replaced by prayers and fasting. Christians chose to celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1 instead of participating in some of the New Year activities related to honouring the pagan god Janus. However, the idea of moving the New Year from March to January took some time to catch on. It only stuck when Pope Gregory XIII brought the January 1 New Year back in 1582, with the Gregorian calendar which we still use today.

In what can be seen as an endorsement of the non-drinkers of the 4th century Roman Christians, in 1775, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, created the watch night services which were also known as Covenant Renewal Services. As per the Sea Point Methodist Church Website, these services were initially held during various times throughout the year. However, towards the end of John Wesley’s life, they were held on the Sunday nearest January 1st. This renewal service, as the name implies, was a time for Methodists to meet in self-examination, reflection on the year past and renewal of their covenant with God for the coming year. They were also seen as an alternative to the drunken partying. The renewal service has seen major changes and conversions over the centuries but the basic principles of discipleship, living with a Christ like personality and ongoing improvement still remain important with believers.

Over the years since, the New Year’s resolution has developed into a secular custom. We’ve seen a change in resolutions since the Babylonian and ancient Roman times from doing good to mostly self-improvement. So, given such an interesting history why do we off-ramp from the main highway of success? Reasons will obviously be different from person to person and I can only speak for my own experiences. I have discovered some solutions that may assist in alleviating the problems.

1. Your set goals were vague.
When I set my resolutions, I never took the time to clarify my goals before committing to them. I would set a Physical fitness goal such as “Improve my fitness.”, without any measurable criteria attached to it. The solution to this is to make your goals SMART: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic and Time based.

2. You are discouraged.
As you pursue your goals, you may not see any signs of progress. You have set time frames for your achievements but deadlines come and go without any fruitful progress. This plants seeds of doubt as to whether your goals are worth all the stress and trouble at all. As all seeds that are planted in the fertile soils of failure, they germinate and soon you abandon all hope. However, when you reach this point, instead of giving in, it would be wiser to re-think your processes. You may be stuck in your old ways, but being flexible enough to explore new ways and possibilities may prove to be useful.

3. No accountability
In the 1994 book “The Oz Principle”, Authored by Roger Connors, Tom Smith and Craig Hickman, accountability is defined as the “…personal choice to rise above one’s circumstances and demonstrate the ownership necessary for achieving desired results”. You may not have any form of an accountability system in place that bears consequences for non-compliance and apathy. The modern world of technology is awash with apps and software that aid in individuals and groups attain their goals.

4. Feeling of Being overwhelmed.
Change, the mere mention of the word can make anyone feel uneasy. After what seems like a lifetime of a particular path, one may not know where to begin with the change and place themselves under enormous pressure. Over time the weight of expectation may cause one to drown and feel as though all the expected change is too much. Before you know it, everything is dead in the water. These feelings come from the false idea of a “complete overhaul”. We pressure ourselves into completely changing who we are in the shortest period of time. The solution to this is make changes in comfortable bite sized chunks starting from where we are now. Instead of expecting to transform from a couch potato to an iron man participant in 2 months, you start by walking around the block each morning.

So, given the dismal success statistics, why bother with resolutions year after year? Irish poet, Oscar Wilde once wrote, “Second marriage is a triumph of hope over experience” Though he spoke of marriage, the same can be said of resolutions. They’re a means to measure that which we aspire for our lives. They serve as a way of taking stock of our personal and professional disappointments. However, I believe their most important purpose is wipe the slate clean and hope for a better future. What have been your experiences with new year’s resolutions?