The start of the New Year is often the perfect time to turn a new page in your life, which is why so many people make New Year's resolutions. But why do so many people have a hard time keeping to their resolutions?

I researched on the success rate of resolutions and I found that most New Year's resolutions don't work at all. Often by the next December people haven't moved forward at all, some people might have even fallen back in what they wanted to achieve. Researchers believe that the psychological impact of setting yourself a target is what makes you less confident in your abilities to achieve said target and therefore creates a mindblock. This is what makes New Year's resolutions hard to achieve. Some of the most common New Year's resolutions are weight loss, exercise, stopping smoking, better money management and debt reduction. 50% of the world's population makes resolutions every year however only 8% of people actually keep and achieve their resolutions.

I interviewed some of my cousins who said that they find it hard to keep their resolutions because they procrastinate too much. Resolutions are a form of "cultural procrastination" which is basically an attempt to reinvent one's self. It's a way in which they can motivate themselves. But it doesn't work because people find it hard to change bad habits into good ones. I interviewed my cousin Denver Rocha, he said "I think it's important to make New Year's resolutions as it gives you a chance to change yourself and become a new person. However it's even more important to keep those resolutions and even if you do mess up once or twice, it's important to move on and not just abandon them then."

There are ways to keep your resolutions such as:

1) Setting realistic goals that will be achievable.

2) Celebrate smaller successes along the way, it's not just the end product that matters.

3) Take each day as it comes, don't be put off if your plans don't work immediately.

Nicole Fernandes - Newstead Wood School