A new research study of 2,000 British adults has revealed听one in three Brits threw in the towel on their New Year鈥檚 Resolutions by the 10th of January last year – just ten days after setting commitments like hitting the gym, going vegan, or completing Dry January.
A survey conducted by听Duolingo, the world鈥檚 number one language app, found a third听quit their New Year Resolutions even earlier than the famous 鈥楺uitters Day鈥� in 2022 – which is typically recognised as the second Friday in January. A further听62%听gave up by the end of the month.
The situation is expected to be the same if not worse this year, with the majority听admitting it will be harder to keep up their resolutions in 2023. Over a third听cited setting a resolution which was 鈥榯oo difficult鈥� as the reason they gave up on goals last year.
When admitting defeat on their New Year鈥檚 Resolutions, Brits mostly felt disappointed, frustrated or simply relieved.
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The top five most difficult resolutions to keep were voted as:
- Giving up meat
- Reducing screen time by 10%
- Going to the gym at least twice a week
- Using TikTok for just 10 minutes a day
- Calling family or friends at least once a week
Of those who quit their resolutions last year, over a quarter admitted they were shocked by how hard it was to keep up with their new goal, whilst almost a third wished they鈥檇 had someone or something to keep them motivated when things got tough.
When it comes to commitment,听Owen Radford,听SEO specialist from Pudsey, is one of Duolingo鈥檚 number one 鈥榮treakers鈥� in the UK and knows all too well how challenging it can be to keep up with new goals. Having completed his daily lesson for听3,320 days now (over nine years), Owen has spent over听79,680听hours learning Italian.
Owen says:听鈥淥nce you become invested in your hobby, keeping up with it becomes a non-negotiable part of your day. This has led to me completing daily lessons in some very impractical situations – like while hungover in a tent at a festival on low battery with poor signal, at an airport, at work, and particularly as a new parent. But I鈥檓 now a frequent Italian speaker in real life scenarios, so the commitment has totally been worth it. Learning a language isn鈥檛 always easy, but it gave me structure, and Duolingo鈥檚 gamified techniques kept me coming back for more.鈥澨�
So why are we all still setting resolutions, despite quitting them more quickly than ever before? The majority of Brits (84%) say having personal goals helps them feel grounded when it鈥檚 all doom and gloom on the news, and even more (88%) say goal setting at the start of the year makes them feel accountable to their future self.
Duolingo鈥檚 senior learning scientist, Dr. Cindy Blanco said: 鈥淭he trouble with goal setting in January is that we typically choose resolutions that are too ambitious and too difficult to keep. A more effective approach is to break new habits down into mini-goals: think of personally meaningful goals that you can achieve in a few weeks or months, and then repeat that process all year.听
This is a great way to build in a ‘reward’ element to keep you engaged, see your progress more easily, and build connections between your study habits and the reward. The Duolingo streak is one way we help learners get that reward, by seeing steady, incremental progress when they study! Think of Duo as your personal trainer, motivating and pushing you each day to reach your next mini-goal.鈥�
