World’s Largest Study on New Year’s Resolutions Reveals 1 Tip for Thriving in 2021

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

World's largest study on New Year's resolutions reveals 1 tip for thriving in 2021:

According to the largest study on New Year's resolutions to date, people who create resolutions that add behaviors rather than erase them are more likely to maintain them for a year. It's a slight shift that tweaks how you phrase the resolution in the first place - changing "I will quit or avoid" to "I will start to".

[...] researchers recruited 1,066 people across Sweden who made resolutions in 2017. Each participant came up with their own resolution. The most popular resolutions were related to physical health, weight loss, and changing eating habits.

[...] The participants were divided into three different groups, which received different levels of support throughout the year: no support at all, some support, and extended support.

In the "no support" group, participants received brief, general information on New Year's resolutions before reporting their own resolutions and belief in their chances of achieving success.

In the second group, with some support, they did the same but also received information about the positive effects of receiving social support when striving toward a personal goal. They then were asked to name a person responsible for supporting them throughout the year. The participants were also sent exercises and information on how to cope with possible hurdles when striving toward personal goals.

The last, most supported group, received the same information as group two but also received extra information about the value of setting a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-framed goal - as well as four follow up emails. They were also asked to formulate goals in terms of approaching rather than avoiding something and to set interim goals throughout the year.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.