Chat with the chief: Resolve

What is your New Years resolution for 2016?

Actually, let me pitch a better question. Have you given up on it yet?

If you’re still committed to changing any aspect of your life in the New Year, then you are among just 64% of Americans who see their resolutions past the first two weeks of January, according to statisticsbrain.com

It’s not that change is impossible; it’s just that people are oftentimes irreconcilably lazy. This isn’t true in all cases of course, but it helps explain why we as a species are so pathetic when it comes to sticking to our promises.

Sir Isaac Newton unintentionally summed up the inevitable failure of so many hopeful New Years resolutions when he said a body in motion tends to stay in motion, just as a body at rest tends to stay at rest.

If an individual has spent the greater part of his or her existence without exercising, that body will tend to stay at rest regardless of how many resolutions he or she may proclaim.

Change is far less comfortable than stasis.

That’s why chain smokers may purchase a fresh pack of smokes on January 3rd after resisting the urge for just 48 hours, or why there may be lines for the elliptical machines at the gym until numbers dwindle once again by the start of February.

Having an over-arching goal for the year is a great thing. We should never stop trying to improve ourselves. However, the reported failure rate of New Years resolutions is absurd.

Perhaps people would be slightly more inclined to stick to their promises if they weren’t just pledging to themselves, but rather a mass audience. That way, one is forced to feel accountable for making the change.

In the name of changing for the better, my 2016 New Years resolution is listed below.

In an effort to further distance myself from Buzzfeed, my resolution for this year is to never begin an article with a question. Here’s hoping I can manage it.