New Year, Same You

Danielle Fatzinger is the current PGR Office Intern and in the third year of her PhD in Celtic & Gaelic, studying late-seventeenth century Gaelic manuscripts written in Kintyre, Argyll, their scribe, and his patrons. In this post, she reflects on the concept of ‘new year, new you’ and why she thinks that you should avoid being a ‘new’ you and instead build up the you that you already are.

‘New Year, New You’ is something that appears on social media and in conversations every year in December and January. Even if people don’t come out and say it, they imply it through New Year’s Resolutions or the suggestion that they’ll get to something in the new year. Our society seems to be rife with the idea that January 1 is significant as more than the first day of the year: it is a reset button, a starting point, and the chance to change.

And this year, it’s spread to ‘New Decade, New You’. There’s even a trend for making a ‘20 in 2020’ list of 20 things you want to do or achieve in 2020 (which is better because it’s more long-term, but it’s still tied to a specific time-frame).

But most New Year’s Resolutions aren’t successful long-term, and putting a lot of emotional stake on them is a recipe for (often hidden) overload, guilt, and shame, especially in academia where January is actually the middle of the year, and where a lot of ambitious, determined people may be caught by the New-Year bug to become a ‘new you’.

The truth is that January 1 is, in terms of the passage of time, just another day, and tying goals to that day and the month of January can limit your motivation to achieve them. The truth is that you are the same person, just in another calendar year, and it’s likely that the person you are is already doing pretty good, all things considered.

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t have goals, ambitions, and things you want to change. Most people do (myself included), and it’s great to go after them. I just think they shouldn’t be tied to being a ‘New Year’s Resolution’. If you want to do something, why not do it now, or keep it in mind to do when you’re prepared and adequately committed?

If the intrinsic motivation and commitment to do something is there, then you can start trying to reach your goal in March, or November, or any other time of year (unless your goal is dependent on something seasonal, in which case you will be more limited).

And if you are using the new year as a boost of motivation, remember that you are the same person now as you were in 2019. Be SMART about your goals, make sure that other parts of your life won’t interfere with them, be careful not to burnout, and give yourself space to be flexible and restart if your plan isn’t working (without the adjustment counting as a failure). Also try to recognise where the motivation is coming from, because intrinsic motivation (i.e. coming from yourself) is more likely to last than extrinsic motivation (i.e. coming from societal pressures). You can find more advice on successfully achieving goals from Psychology Today.

Some people may disagree with me on this and find that New Year’s Resolutions have been helpful for them, and that’s fantastic. You keep doing you! That just hasn’t been my experience, and the high rate of people who are unsuccessful in keeping to their resolutions suggests it’s not the experience of many, many others.

But rather than setting goals that may be unrealistic or not mesh well with your research life, you can take time to reflect on your previous year and the coming one, including all facets of life important to you: professional, personal, health, etc. What has been working well, what have you enjoyed, what were your successes, what were your challenges, and where can you go from there? If you tried to reach a goal but didn’t make it, what obstacles did you face, and how can you make it better for next time?

Don’t be a ‘New’ you. Build up who you already are.

What are your thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions? Do you agree? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter or Instagram @UofG_PGRblog.