VIP Guest Every January, millions of people promise themselves change. Less sugar, more exercise,
better balance. Yet by February, most of those resolutions have quietly disappeared.
The pattern is familiar, and it is not new. In the 2001 Bridget Jones’s Diary movie, Bridget
decides to turn her life around with resolutions to stop smoking, drink less, lose weight, sort
out her love life, and become a better person. Over the years, viewers watch her stumble
repeatedly. She backslides, enters messy relationships, overdrinks, overeats, and yet slowly
grows nonetheless. Her story has become a familiar example of New Year’s resolutions that
do not last.
Contrary to popular belief, most resolutions do not fall apart because people are lazy or lack
discipline. They struggle because they are planted in environments engineered for
convenience, distraction, and instant gratification. When phones buzz constantly, food
arrives in minutes, and work messages never stop, goals such as “quit smoking” or “exercise
more” are competing against a powerful attention economy designed to keep people
engaged, consuming, and sedentary.
Behavioural science helps explain this mismatch. Humans are naturally drawn to immediate
rewards over long-term benefits, a tendency often described as present bias. This is why
scrolling on a phone often wins over stretching the body, and why ice cream so easily beats
the salad in the fridge. Compounding this is choice architecture, the way options are
structured around us, quietly shaping behaviour without conscious awareness.
It is therefore unsurprising that only a small minority of people sustain their New Year’s
resolutions beyond the first few months. Many intentions fade well before the year is over.
This is not a moral failing. It is shaped by the environments we live and work in.
Evidence from community and family research shows that lasting change is more likely
when environments support it. Programmes are most effective when they reduce everyday
barriers, strengthen social support, and align routines with shared values, rather than
relying on individuals to “try harder” in isolation. When contexts change, healthier
behaviours become easier and more sustainable.
The implications extend far beyond families. Workplaces, for example, can become more
behaviour-friendly by making healthy choices the default. Shorter meetings with built-in
breaks, protected focus hours with reduced digital interruptions, and placing water and
nutritious snacks in visible locations while making sugary options less prominent are subtle
nudges that respect human limits on attention and energy.
At home, small design choices can also have outsized effects. Placing fruit at eye level
instead of snacks, creating a phone-free corner for quiet time, or keeping walking shoes and
umbrellas by the door can make movement and rest the easy default rather than an act of
willpower.Studies on indigenous parenting practices show how values such as love, honesty, and role-
modelling are woven into daily rituals – storytelling, shared meals, and communal work – so
that “good behaviour” is supported by routines, not lectures.
Communities play a role as well. Safe walking paths, group exercise sessions, cooking clubs,
and savings circles make change collective rather than isolating. Celebrating small wins
through local networks reinforces progress far more effectively than focusing only on major
milestones.
If resolutions are to last beyond the second week of January, the questions must shift from
“What is wrong with my willpower?” to “What in my environment makes unhealthy choices
so easy?” When workplaces, families, and communities take this question seriously, healthy
habits stop being heroic acts and become the new normal.
*This article is contributed by Dr Indra Yohanes Kiling, an Associate Professor at the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure Management, Taylor’s University.