Whether New Year’s resolutions really work or not, many people do make them. How do your resolutions (if you make them at all) compare with the resolutions of different groupings of people?

Executives Caught in the Act

Because of the media’s propensity to ask people to step up to the mike, or say a few words to the reporter who’s doing the story on resolutions, even top executives in multinational corporations who otherwise adhere to highly effective goal-setting techniques are wont to make New Year’s resolutions.

Many top business magazines routinely poll corporate presidents and CEOs as part of their January issue. For example, Forbes magazine annually polls several top executives who report they have, indeed, made resolutions for the coming years (I suspect that they simply capitulate to the reporters their goals in the form of New Year’s resolutions).

The Optimist, a quarterly magazine with thousands of subscribers, also polls its members in its annual December issue. In an article entitled “New Year’s Resolutions – Have You Made Yours Yet?” the magazine quizzed members about their resolutions, with particular regard to their role as members of Optimists International. Here’s what some of the members said:

• A club president from Georgia “resolves to keep attendance high all year…”
• A member in Minneapolis says she “resolves to do anything for growth that will get me out of the house!…”
• A member in Denver “resolves to bring a guest to lunch each week.”
• A member in Los Angeles resolves to put all his efforts into the new club building being constructed.
• A member in Ontario, Canada, says he resolves to earn various membership awards.
• A member in Detroit resolves that his club will achieve “distinguished status.”

Pollsters Get into the Act

As you might have guessed, some of the top polling organizations also keep the process of making New Year’s resolutions alive by asking corporate leaders what they’ve chosen for the coming year. The Gallop Poll once surveyed more than 400 chief executives of organizations and found that pressing issues for the coming year included organizational profitability, long-term strategic planning, customer loyalty, employee morale and attitudes, and information in computer technology, among several other issues cited.

Gallop found that while these issues were deemed pressing by respondents it’s unclear what the actual level of commitment is for resolving them. Gallop estimates that not even half of the people who make New Year’s resolutions manage to keep them. If you consider how many people probably achieve the goals they set out to achieve, it would probably far less than half. Resolutions, which for reasons already described are far less potent, likely aren’t even achieved 10 percent of the time.

Out of the Mouths of Everyday People

The local channels in my corner of the world – Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill (commonly known as “The Triangle” or the “Research Triangle”) probably operate similar to your local stations. Here’s what people said off local broadcasts:

• To spend more time with my children.
• To be a better Wolfpack fan, whether or not the team is successful (Wolfpack refers to North Carolina State University).
• To stick to my jogging schedule.
• To watch less television.
• To have my husband watch less television.
• Just to try to be a better person all around.
• To live up to the resolutions I made last year.
• To be more charitable to others.
• To stay more focused more often.

While New Year’s resolutions often are useless, there are compelling reasons why identifying what you want to achieve at the start of a year, or other notable intervals, makes sense. There are opportune times in the course of a year, decade, or your entire life when its appropriate to carve a path for attaining desired outcomes.

Resolutions off the Web

The archives of some news groups and some chat rooms on the Internet had the following :

• To upgrade my whole system.
• To spend less time on-line.
• To get an unlisted phone number.
• To get off of mailing lists!
• To not flame anybody.
• To read some great novels this year.
• To complete all of my needed dental work.

Jeff Takes a Poll

To round out my search, I asked people whom I already knew if they made resolutions. Here, in unadulterated language, is what I was told:

• College student (age 21) – To graduate on time.
• Female university instructor (44) – To have a life.
• Multimillionaire (46) – To break ground on what will be Utah’s largest ski resort.
• Trainer (51) – Just to enjoy life.
• Bookkeeper and accountant (39) – To leave the office at a reasonable hour.
• College student (20) – To transfer to some school up North.
• Entrepreneur (51) – To be on the road less and be with my family more.
• Doctoral candidate (25) – To stay sane.
• Insurance agent (54) – To find my soul mate.
• Psychotherapist (37) – To expand my business horizon and get into something that’s more extroverted.
• Auditor (29) – To pass the CPA exam and to get a real job.
• Trainer (60) – I don’t have any, I think they’re a complete waste of time.

Whether you follow your resolutions or not, you can still have fun making them. Just make sure that you know the difference between which resolutions are your goals and which are simply your resolutions. The difference is whether or not you act upon what you resolve!