What are your goals for the new year?

STATEMENT FROM FORMER SENATOR MIKE MARTUCCI

It’s time once again to set goals for the new year.  My goal for 2024 is to learn how to cook.  Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t cook at all.  I’m good at catering and reservations, but when it comes to cooking, boiling water tests the limits of my abilities.  My goal of learning to cook in 2024 is also about being healthier, which is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions. New Year’s resolutions have been around for thousands of years, with ancient Babylonians making promises to the gods on the New Year.  They believed that if they kept their word to the gods, good things would come in exchange.   Today’s resolutions are very different than those of ancient times.  Several surveys conducted in December 2023 regarding modern New Year’s resolutions indicate that in addition to losing weight, exercising, and living healthier, people are hoping to save more money in 2024.  Of the numerous surveys, 34 percent of U.S. citizens over the age of 18 indicated they were planning to make resolutions for the new year. A recent survey by Statistica polled respondents in an online survey asking, “What are your New Year’s resolutions?”  The survey drew the response of “saving more money” from 59 percent of those polled.  A poll by YouGov.com of 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 30 resulted in 37 percent of that demographic resolving to “save more money” in 2024.  It is also no surprise that a large number of respondents listed self-improvement goals such as physical fitness, healthier diets, and mental happiness just below saving money on their list of plans for this year.  Despite ambitious goals set at the beginning of each year, studies indicate that as many as 25 percent of all New Year’s resolutions are broken in the first two weeks, and overall 88 percent of New Year’s goals fail to be met.  If you’re like me, you strive to be part of the 12 percent of people who get to check a goal off the list as the next year rolls around.   Whether it’s saving money, living healthier, or learning to cook like me, experts say your chances of meeting with success increase dramatically if you keep your goals simple and manageable.  For me, that means learning to prepare simple meals first because small steps can eventually lead to big results.  I don’t expect to be preparing the five-course meal anytime soon, but small steps in the right direction will eventually pay off. What are your goals for 2024?  Whatever they are, remember to manage expectations, set specific goals, and mark your progress with small steps because eventually, they will lead to big victories.