How to stick to your New Year's resolutions

And so to resolutions.

The belt is a bit tighter, the head is a bit fuzzier, the stomach is a bit heavier, and the spirit is a bit downer.

So what should we do?

The best advice I've received recently comes from the owner of a gym in Canberra.

"People need to start concentrating on a routine. Without a routine, nothing will happen," Mick Mackell of The Den gym said.

By which he means that rather than have a big generalised aim - like "getting fit" - have a routine that might start small but can build.

"It can just start as a walk. Put that into place and other good things will happen."

He thinks a walk will clear your mind and open up the thought of doing a bit more exercise, even joining a gym. Fitness begets fitness.

So the task is the thing, not the vague general aim. Don't resolve to "improve my guitar playing this year" but do resolve to practice for half an hour a day (or whatever works for you).

The best advice is not to aim too high. Don't make grand vows that will never be kept.

Of course, we don't know what our resolutions for 2025 will be because we're still making them.

But the reputable YouGov polling firm researched last year's good intentions, and they aren't likely to have changed very much.

"Almost half (49 per cent) of Australian residents say they plan to improve their physical health in 2024 - the top New Year resolution.

"Over a third also hope to improve their mental health (36 per cent) and manage their money better (34 per cent) this year - while spending more time with friends/family (30 per cent) and travelling more (27 per cent) are the next most common New Year goals."

Well, yes. It turns out that Australians intended to be healthier, both physically and mentally, and to handle money better while travelling more and seeing family and friends more.

This is not a revelation.

One interesting fact did emerge from the polling, and that was that more Australians intended to get off social media.

Good call, say I, as one who eschews social media because I don't like starting the day feeling bad about how angry and unpleasant people can be.

It will not surprise you to learn that academics have done research into how to keep resolutions: Goal Setting Theory (GST), as it's called in the braininess trade.

The current issue of the Harvard Business Review discusses some of them: "Noting that normative goal-setting approaches have benefited typically white, male power structures, Miller proposes a six-step, 21st-century application of GST called BRIDGE."

The business school bible spells out the BRIDGE acronym: "Brainstorm every aspect associated with setting a specific goal; Evaluate the relationships you will and won't need to move forward; Think about the investments you will need to make in yourself; Discern what factors will matter in decision-making; Decide whether or not you have the grit to proceed; and settle on the definition of excellence you are shooting for and the timeline that will match it."

So there you have it.

But it seems to me that the author of the business review piece offers much clearer advice: "Have a good breakfast. Get outside. Spend quality time with family or friends. Then make our checklists," Stefanie Fernandez wrote.

"Ask ourselves questions and identify where we can make a change. And move further toward our big goal each week or month, finding one small thing to work on to improve our days just a tiny bit."

Quite.

But I'd still go with the gym owner.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you made a resolution yet? How did last year's go? Send your good intentions to: echidna@theechidna.com.au.

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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- Shops were expecting the Boxing Day sales to boost revenues by 2.7 per cent this year compared with the same period last year. Australians were projected to spend $1.3 billion on Boxing Day and a further $2.4 billion during these last days of December, Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan research showed.

- Rescuers have lost hope of finding a teenage boy who was swept off rocks at a popular beach. The 15-year-old went missing around Christmas Eve off North Avoca Beach on the NSW Central Coast.

- US President-elect Donald Trump said he would direct his justice department to "vigorously pursue" the death penalty.

- The Danish government announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland after Mr Trump repeated his desire to purchase Denmark's Arctic territory.

THEY SAID IT: "Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right." - Oprah Winfrey

YOU SAID IT: I had the temerity to suggest (with tongue in cheek, I should say) that Christmas in the summer felt all wrong.

Some people were very, very annoyed.

"I can't work out if the writer is a Seppo or a Pom," Michelle wrote, introducing me to a new insult. "But advocating for a Thanksgiving-like holiday because it's so good in the USA will most likely not resonate with the average Australian who probably isn't enamoured with the USA."

Rudi liked the suggestion that we hijack the monarch's official birthday in June and turn it into a winter celebration. "Interesting idea," Rudi wrote. "It has long been a tradition in our family for our children and grandchildren to come to our place on that weekend, and have a meal, and sit around a campfire, and look at the stars."

Christopher liked the idea, too: "My family has celebrated then for many years and Easter similarly - being the celebration of the goddess of fertility, Eostre - again stolen by the Christians who didn't even bother to change the name!"

But lots of you like the Australian Christmas in the sun. As do I.