Why Most People Will Never Be Great At Keeping Their New Year's Resolutions

The History Behind New Year's (Skip If History Makes You Cringe):

The earliest recorded New Year's festivities date back nearly 4,000 years ago to ancient Babylon.

• For Babylonians, New Year's was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox (one of two days in the year where there is an equal amount of sunlight and darkness). In the early Roman calendar however, March 1st was the first day of the year and the calendar only had ten months!
• Babylon's religious festival was called Akitu, which was also celebrated due to the mythical victory of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat.
• Akitu also served an important political purpose because it was the exact time a new king was crowned or a current ruler's mandate was symbolically renewed.
• In fact, in order to realign the Roman Calendar with the sun, Julius Caesar added 90 extra days to the year 46 B.C., when he introduced his new Julian calendar.
• In Egypt, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile, which coincided with the rising of the star Sirius.
• The first day of the Chinese New Year occurred with the second new moon after the winter solstice.

Oh, how times have changed. For most of us, we're not too concerned about evil sea goddesses or local rivers flooding, but we do prioritize gym memberships and getting more organized. Even though improving personal health is never a bad resolution to start off with, we're here to tell you that excelling in the ways we each make a living can be much more significant.

Why? Our career failures and successes determine every other factor in our lives—where we live, how much money we make, our work-life balance, and how we take care of ourselves and our families. In fact, it also determines our budget for groceries and whether or not we can afford to eat organic, for example.

It makes sense, then, to reflect on the progress, or lack thereof, we've made by this point. Here are three reasons why you've failed to keep your past New Year's resolutions.

1. You Don't Value Improving Your Communication Skills

There's no excuse for this one. We're in a digital age of information overload so if communication was important in the past, it's a non-negotiable skill to have now.

Communication skills can span from weak public speaking, poor writing, or lack of social media literacy. Or, maybe you suffer from a health condition like social anxiety disorder, making your ability to communicate with others difficult.

Consider getting professional help; it is never a sign of weakness. Hone in on which communication skill you lack or can improve on. We promise it will make a tremendous difference in both your personal and professional life.

2. Work-Life Balance Doesn't Exist For You

Balance is always the key to living harmoniously, so too much of anything will always hurt you in some way. If you're a work-a-holic, take a step back and see how your work schedules are affecting your personal relationships. Some of you may read this and cringe, "Oh, who cares about personal relationships?"

The truth is, after our desk jobs end, which they will because every job is temporary, it is our support systems that will help us move forward, hence the importance of networking. Networking is essentially your professional support system.

Or, vice versa, you lack positive work ethic, so ask yourself, how has your professional growth suffered? Are you making less money than you had envisioned at this stage of your life and career?

3. You Only Focus On Your Job And Ignore Your Career

Humans are creatures of motivation and reward. We excel in our goals when we truly feel that the reward is substantial enough as well as attainable. One of the best ways to motivate our human mind is to set goals every step of the way.

For example, we make take on a job we dislike because it will give us the skill set we need to get a promotion in the near future. We may even take a pay cut to work from home so we can spend more time developing our side hustles. Whatever your circumstances may be, realize that there is a key difference between jobs and career growth.