What is the Difference Between New Year Resolutions and Goals

With New Year around the corner, it’s the best time to make resolutions and goals for the future. They help you to start a new year with purpose and focus. However, new year resolutions and goals are not the same.

What is the difference between new year resolutions and goals? Resolutions are promises to make positive changes while goals are specific steps that help turn those promises into reality.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are New Year Resolutions  
3. What are New Year Goals
4. Similarities – New Year Resolutions and Goals
5. New Year Resolutions vs Goals in Tabular Form
6. Summary – New Year Resolutions vs Goals
7. FAQ – New Year Resolutions and  Goals

What are New Year Resolutions?

A resolution is a promise you make to yourself. A new year resolution is a promise or commitment you make at the beginning of the year. When you make new year resolutions, you promise yourselves to change or improve something in your life. New year resolutions are a common tradition in many parts of the world. They usually focus on improving various aspects of a person’s life, like health, relationships, and productivity.

Some Examples of New Year Resolutions

• Losing weight
• Saving money
• Learning something new
• Exercising more
• Stopping smoking
• Spending more time with family
• Cutting down the hours spent on social media

As you can see from the above examples, new year resolutions include both things you should do and shouldn’t do (or things you should stop doing).

The basic idea behind a new year resolution is starting the new year fresh and working on becoming a better version of yourself. However, when compared to goals, resolutions are less specific and more open-ended. This is why some people say that goals are better than resolutions.

What are New Year Goals?

A new year goal is a specific, clear, and measurable objective that you aim to achieve within the year. New year goals have a definite endpoint. They can be both short-term and long-term. Therefore, when you set a new year goal, always make sure to set a time frame. This way, you will know when you have achieved your goals. For example, saving 10% from each month’s salary for the next ten months, so you can take a vacation at the end of the year. But make sure that your timeline is realistic – you may not be able to reach your goal within a day, week, or even month.

You can also break your goals into smaller, more achievable steps. You can celebrate and reward yourself when you reach each of these steps. When you achieve your outcomes step by step, you’ll be more motivated to continue.

New year goals may take longer to set because they need planning. But this planning gives you a clear direction to follow in order to reach your endpoint. Hence, you can rephrase your New Year’s resolutions to goals to make them stronger. For instance,

New Year’s Resolution: I want to lose weight.

New Year’s Goal: I want to lose 10 pounds by June by exercising three times a week and eating balanced meals.

Some Examples of New Year Resolutions

• Walk 10,000 steps daily by March.
• Meditate for 10 minutes daily starting January.
• Save $5,000 for a vacation by November.
• Drink eight glasses of water every day for the year.
• Volunteer 20 hours at a local charity by April.

Similarities Between New Year Resolutions and Goals

1. Both new year resolutions and goals help you improve your life.
2. They start at the beginning of the year.
3. You need dedication and effort to achieve your goals and resolutions.
4. They generally focus on self-improvement in areas like health, relationships, or skills.

Difference Between New Year Resolutions and Goals

Definition

1. A new year resolution is a general commitment.
2. A new year goal is a specific objective that breaks down a resolution into actionable steps.

Nature

1. Resolutions provide a direction or purpose.
2. Goals create a plan to achieve that purpose.

Broad vs Specific

1. New year resolutions are broader and more open-ended.
2. New year goals are more specific.

Example

1. 1. “Get healthier” is a new year resolution.
   2. “Exercise for 30 minutes, five times a week” is a new year goal.

Summary – New Year Resolutions vs Goals

Both new year resolutions and goals help you improve your life. The basic difference between new year resolutions and goals is that resolutions are promises to make positive changes while goals are specific steps that help turn those promises into reality.

FAQ: New Year Resolutions and Goals

1. Why are goals better than resolutions?

• Goals are considered to be better than resolutions because they are more specific and have a clear timeline. Goals can specific objectives and they can break a resolution to actionable steps.

2. Why do most resolutions fail?

• Most resolutions (specially new year resolutions) fail because they are too broad and lack specificity. Resolutions that are too general ‘read more books’ or ‘get healthier’ are difficult to measure and achieve. Another reason why resolutions fail is that people lose motivation and dedication easily.

3. What is the difference between a wish and a New Year’s resolution?

• A wish is something you hope for without a plan. A New Year’s resolution is a decision to work toward that wish with effort and action

4. How to set goals for a New Year?

• To set goals for the New Year, think about what you want to improve or achieve. Make your goals specific, realistic, and measurable. Break them into smaller steps and set a deadline to stay on track.

Reference:

1. “New Year’s resolution.” Wikipedia.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Woman Hand with Marker over Notebook with New Years Resolutions” (CC0) via Pexels
2. “New Year Goals” (CC0) via Pexels

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