Making New Years Resolutions can be an exciting way to reorganize yourself for the new year. However, knowing what to put at the top of the list can prove challenging for most individuals. Equally challenging can be keeping the actual resolution all year long.
If you need some assistance with what to put on top of your resolutions list, or need tips for maintaining a resolution year-round, see the statistics below for inspiration on how to craft your own 2024 resolutions list for the new year.
A Forbes Health article titled "New Year's Resolution Statistics 2024" shows that lots of Americans plan to prioritize fitness for the new year, as opposed to mental health, which was the respondents' choice in 2023.
Forbes Health states, "The most commonly-selected new year’s resolution for 2024 among respondents was fitness, which contrasts with findings from the previous year. The previous Forbes Health/OnePoll survey in 2022 showed that many people were prioritizing their mental health, rather than their physical health, in their resolutions for 2023."
Forbes Health also listed the Top 5 2024 Resolutions from surveyed American Respondents to be:
- Improved fitness (48%)
- Improved finances (38%)
- Improved mental health (36%)
- Lose weight (34%)
- Improved diet (32%)
Less popular resolutions included traveling more (6%), meditating regularly (5%), drinking less alcohol (3%) and performing better at work (3%).
The article also listed that the shelf-life of a New Years Resolution is approximately 3.74 months.
Now if you find yourself falling into this camp each year and struggling to maintain resolutions, a separate Forbes article titled "5 Ways To Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions Based New Research" provides tips and strategies for yearly maintenance.
Top 'resolution-keeping' strategies from the article are:
- Reduce stress when making resolutions
- Talk to yourself (i.e. nurture your inner voice to promote positive self-talk)
- Exercise
- Partner Up (research shows that self-control is 'contagious' and people should be selective with who they spend their time with)
- Express Empathy (expressing empathy for others' situations was shown to refine personal self-control and goal-setting over time)
Seeing fitness become the top priority for most Americans in 2024 comes as no personal surprise; as I can attest to the positive effect which fitness has had on my own life. Take a look back on some previously written stories from myself which detail how starting a fitness journey positively impacted my life:
A Local Gym Tour
A Beginner's Fitness Journey
List of Statesboro's Fitness Centers
What about you? Will you be prioritizing fitness for the 2024 year? If not, hopefully the statistics and compiled research from this article will give you a good start on some areas to look at improving for the new year.