After 12 long months, 2024 finally drew to a close on Tuesday evening, and on Wednesday morning, New Year’s resolution season started once again.
For such an innocuous tradition, New Year’s resolutions can be surprisingly controversial. Many people argue that they’re a meaningless practice that will inevitably be discarded by the start of February – 43% of Americans said they’re not planning to make a resolution for 2025, according to Statista.
Even individuals who are invested in turning over a new leaf in the new year can find it challenging to keep their resolutions. According to one 2020 analysis, the rate of people maintaining a New Year’s resolution generally declines every month. In 2023, a Forbes poll found that most New Year’s resolutions only lasted for four months.
To make resolutions stick, many experts recommend making specific goals. For example, instead of resolving to lose weight, you should resolve to exercise for a specific amount of time each day. Instead of saying you’ll read more books, give yourself a number of pages to tackle.
“Research shows that 40% of what we do day in and day out are habits. Habits are things that you do without even thinking. You do those things like a routine, habitually, almost automatic,” Justin Hale, a training designer at Crucial Learning, told CBS News.
“The problem is people, when they want to be better in the new year, they never focus on understanding what are the exact behaviors that I need to be done to turn into habits, and what’s the plan I’m going to create to make that thing habitual.”
Continue reading to see what the most popular New Year’s Resolutions are for 2025, according to Statista.
To spend more time with family and friends
Fourteen percent of Americans said their New Year’s resolution was to spend more time with family and friends.
To lose weight
Fifteen percent of Americans said their New Year’s resolution was to lose weight.
To exercise more
Seventeen percent of Americans said their New Year’s resolution was to exercise more.
To eat healthier
Nineteen percent of Americans said their New Year’s resolution was to eat healthier.
To save more money
Twenty-one percent of Americans said their New Year’s resolution was to save more money.
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This story originally appeared in Quartz, which like The Root, is owned by G/O Media.
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