We've all been there — we're waiting for the clock to strike 12, for the fireworks to go off, and for the ball to drop so we can welcome in another year. For many of us, the new year signifies a fresh start, a chance to reinvent ourselves, and a chance to find the motivation to improve different aspects of our lives. We write these grand lists and make huge promises to ourselves that we're gonna stick to our resolutions but let's be honest: no one ever does. Sure, we try for the first week and maybe even make it to the end of January, but it seems like New Year's resolutions are designed for failure.

Why are we, as a society, incapable of sticking to our New Year's Resolution? Are we just lazy or is there more to it?

One theory proposed by Timothy Pychyl, a professor of psychology at Carleton University, points to the idea of "cultural procrastination." Pychyl believes that people use resolutions to motivate themselves and oftentimes, they make resolutions for habits that are not easy to change. This would account for why most people give up on their resolutions a couple of weeks into the new year.

Another explanation for this social phenomenon stems from the way we as humans think and form habits. Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux, and psychotherapist Stephen Hayes have done research that indicates that we form neural pathways and memories that we use when we are faced with making a decision. These pathways get reinforced when we make the same decisions repeatedly, which is how we form habits. Trying to break a bad habit would mean that we would need to form new neural pathways to override the old ones by thinking in a different way, which is significantly harder than one would expect.

It is also incredibly difficult to be self-motivated without short-term incentives and since most people make vague and unrealistic goals, it is not easy to see the immediate incentive for working towards these resolutions.

Even though research has supported the concept that it is challenging to make resolutions and stick to them, I think it's still incredibly important to make the effort. Making small goals frequently and rewarding yourself is one of the most effective ways to reach the bigger, overarching goal you're trying to achieve.

Let's hope 2018 is the year we finally follow through with our premeditated promises to ourselves!

(Although it probably won't be)