Did You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions?

New Year’s Resolutions. We all make them. Who doesn’t want to improve their lives in some way or another? In fact, in a recent survey of 400 people aged from 18 to over 55 in the United Kingdom and the United States, that was the top reason given for making resolutions in the first place.

Some 45% of participants listed improved quality of life as their main reason for wanting to make New Year’s Resolutions, with the other top reasons including losing weight, achieving a goal and saving money. Respectively, 23%, 15% and 13% of respondents gave these motivations.

The top categories for making resolutions were to:

• Stop drinking – 2% of participants
• Get more organised – 6% of participants
• Stop smoking – 11% of participants
• Save money – 14% of participants
• Eat healthily – 21% of participants
• Exercise more – 27% of participants But as admirable as all of this might be considered in the self-improvement-crazed modern world, how sustainable is it? We all know the stories of people who begin their new year full of good intentions and resolutions, only to fail in the first few weeks. The survey took it upon itself to answer these questions too.

The Hard Statistics

A lot of information was gathered on how different British and Stateside groups make and stick to New Year’s Resolutions. Among other things, it was found that 76% of all female respondents and 63% of all male respondents are still sticking with the resolutions they made.

As we head into the second quarter of the year, this might say something about the significance of setting these goals at New Year’s. The detailed statistics for the percentage of participants that quit their resolutions at different times are:

• Less than a week: 8%
• 1 week: 10%
• 2 weeks: 7%
• 3 weeks: 4%
• Still going: 71% It would seem that younger people are more likely to make New Year’s Resolutions; an overall of 87% of the 18- to 24-year-old group usually make resolutions, while only 51% of those over 55 years did so. At the same time, 24% and 10% of the group aged were able to keep their 2017 resolutions in the United States and Britain respectively, for only 2 weeks.

While the biggest groups for setting New Year’s Resolutions on both sides of the pond are the 25-to 34-year-olds, only 47% of this group is still sticking with them in 2017. By contrast, although fewer of them made resolutions to begin with, the percentage of participants aged between 45 and 54 that are still committed is an impressive 93.

The paltry 47% of young professionals still sticking to their resolutions has to be laid at the door of North America. While 73% of this group is going strong in the United Kingdom, only 47% has remained in the USA.

Gender divisions are most noticeable when it comes to saving money; 23% of overall women participants wanted to do it but only 11% of overall men wanted to. This could be attributed to the fact that men are more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour, or that women are more likely to want to nest and create safety nets.

Interestingly, men and women seem to feel the pressure to look good in equal amounts. In total, 19% of men and 23% of women said their main New Year’s Resolution for 2017 was to eat more healthily, while 25% of men and 29% of women said it was to exercise more. This could be an indication of the way the world is moving, as health and taking care of oneself become more general interests instead of the preserve of females that they have traditionally been.

Resolutions for Gambling

The resolution to save money may also stem from a resolution to stop or reduce gambling behaviours, or vice versa. Only 1% of this survey’s participants said that they wanted to stop gambling, but support centres and groups for problem gambling do report that the number of people reaching out for help at this time of year tends to skyrocket. They publish very helpful guidelines on what to do and where to ask for help, and some even suggest their own lists of specific New Year’s Resolutions to help people find their way out of gambling addiction, such as getting educated about what such an addiction entails. There is plenty of help for gamblers who need it, and nobody needs to fight this alone.

On the other hand, if you’ve resolved to spend more time developing your baccarat, blackjack or other casino game strategy, or you want to get more from your playing sessions overall, there are helpful lists of good ideas for these resolutions too. As always, with anything online, the onus is on you to take responsibility for what is best for you, and then follow that advice while you keep a cool head.