The tradition of setting resolutions at the beginning of the New Year has a long history.  In the time of Caesar’s Rome, the Senate decided that the new year would begin on the 1^st January in reverence to that month’s name sake – the God Janus – the two-faced God who looks backward to the past and forward to the future at the same time. The Senate set the new intention for being kinder and more cooperative with each other when the new year began, and thus the tradition of  New Year resolutions was created.

I like the idea of resolutions simply because you consider and embrace the opportunity to introduce change into your life. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it would be that we can not control change ENFORCED on us, but we can control change that is INVITED by us. Invite some positive change into your life this year.

Setting resolutions may seem unrealistic. A few years ago I worked with one of HK’s leading market research teams, CSG, to explore what people intended for their resolutions.   Over 50 percent of the 900 people interviewed had set the same resolutions year after year. This might imply that they ‘failed’ last year to achieve their goal. So perhaps they should quit whilst they are ahead. We disagree.

Rather than seeing repeat resolution as a failure I feel it expresses determination to keep trying. As is often quoted (and attributed to several authors), it does not matter how many times you fall down, but rather how many times you get back up.

The only thing in life that is constant is change. It would be unrealistic to expect things to always stay the same. Resolutions allow you to invite change into your life on your terms. If you are going to experience change, why not accept that and invite the change that may create the biggest new opportunity, heal old hurts and invite the change that you have been searching for.

What happens if you fail in your resolution? You start well, but then your commitment tapers off. Don’t worry. Start again. If you slip up once or twice, or even twenty times. If you stay committed to what you want to accomplish, you’ll be proud of yourself in the end. And Chinese New Year is just around the courner, with a new invitation to invite change again.

Invite change. Invite growth. Happy New Year.

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For those of you interested in our original resolutions research –  I have included some of the results of the CSG/RED DOOR research in order for you to understand what goals other people set.

Summary of some of the research by CSG and Red Door

We conducted a survey with 400 Hong Kong affluent individuals and 500 Chinese affluent regarding the resolutions they have intend for 2017, and their commitment to achieving these resolutions. From the survey, 61% (Hong Kong) and 59% (Chinese) affluent adults has made resolutions for 2017.

1.  65% of women in Hong Kong made a resolution relative to only 57% men
2. The top 2 resolutions that women in Hong Kong made are:  Health & Fitness (68%) + Money (63%)
3. 80% of women in HK have concrete goals + time frames
4. Only 44% of these HK women made a new resolution
5. To achieve their resolution, they plan to do the following:
   1. Chart their success (43%)
   2. Make a change in their career (36%)
   3. Change a regular habit (35%)
   4. Change their look (32%)
6. They are making the resolution for themselves because 72% believed that they would be most impressed with the achievement of their resolution
7. 62% of the women in HK have made resolutions that involved a financial commitment
8. They are willing to spend an average of HKD5,210 in the first month

Data suggest that HK women are making more resolution than men and are committed to achieving their resolution with financial investment.

• There are some really good data for Chinese women that shows up a nice contrast to HK women.
• We have also provided data for different age groups which have interest trends for female who are 35 – 44 years old

This research was conducted at the end of 2017.

#reddoor #CSG #Newyearresolutions #positivechange #Newyear