New Year Resolutions, Broken Bones and Bad Habits

Every year on 1 January, people around the world proclaim their New Year’s Resolution. This tradition is an ancient one, with many cultures and religious groups sharing a similar ritual throughout the ages. Early records indicate the Babylonians made annual promises during their new year’s festival, Akitu, to return borrowed farming equipment and pay their debts. The Romans adopted this tradition by making promises to Janus, the two-faced Roman god for which January is named. Janus’ faces looked backward in reflection while also facing forward for new beginnings, much like the process for setting a New Year’s Resolution.

A 2007 study noted that 88% of people who set New Year’s resolutions fail despite more than half being confident in their success at the beginning of the year. The last time I set a New Year’s resolution, in 2014, I failed miserably. I set myself the lofty goal of running a half marathon despite having never run further than 5km in one attempt in my life. I was travelling and hiking while setting this goal, so my confidence was inflated by the slow, steady kilometres and metres of altitude I was conquering over the course of my month away. Dramatically, I got home and promptly snapped off a chunk of my tibia three days later. Surgery, 30+ stiches, three weeks off work, and a lengthy physio regime meant my new resolution was dead.

Goals

In an educational setting, resolutions are more frequently cast as ‘goals’. Oxford Languages defines a goal as the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. And if you happen to talk to someone about goals in education, they will inevitably talk to you about ‘SMART goals’. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely; SMART goals were coined in 1981 and have taken the education world by storm ever since. On the face of it, they are great! They turn a vague idea of what you want into a well-articulated, futuristic vision of the nirvana we are all aspiring towards.

The reality, much like many other psychology self-help fads, is less shiny than what appears on the box. Don’t get me wrong, SMART goals have their place, but their inherent focus on the product, the object, or the result lead to goals which have no impact on our ability to actually achieve said results.

In my role, I mentor students almost daily. I speak with them about their progress through the year, their interests, their challenges, and most importantly their goals. The vast majority of their goals focus exclusively on the product they are chasing, the grade! In a blog last year, I bemoaned the everlasting fixation on grades, often at the expense of actual learning. This fixation finds a welcome home in the goal setting arena. Goals like “To improve my GPA from a 9.5 to an 11 in the next 6 months by improving my results in English, Maths, and Science” tick all the boxes for a SMART goal yet provide zero guidance on how to actually achieve them.

Habits

When the aim is something as nebulous as “a good education”, SMART goals become incapable of affecting meaningful change on their own. Instead, students should focus on the process rather than the product. Find actions that are positive to their long-term success and commit to them in some meaningful way.

If these actions can be initiated enough times, they will turn into habits. Oxford Languages defines a habit as a settled or regular tendency or practice. And, good habits lead to good education, regardless of the results you are seeking at the end.

The beauty of a process goal is that you can afford to take educational risks. With a product goal, we become risk averse in case we fail and get further and further from achieving our goal. With a process goal, the action is the success, which means you can take risks and fail; failing does not set you back further from your goal.

The process goal of “I will sit in the centre of the classroom as many times as possible this term.” builds on a positive habit which can have meaningful impact on learning. It is simple, yet direct. Most importantly, if you don’t sit in the centre of the room today, you are no further from achieving this goal tomorrow than if you did. These goals also allow for improvement over time because they don’t provide an artificial finish line like a product goal. They allow us to fail, but also allow us to reach our full potential.

Reflection

Now, while I have not set myself a new year’s resolution since breaking my leg in 2014, I do still reflect. I spend time each year taking stock. I consider whether I have grown personally, professionally, socially, relationally. I use this reflection to construct my mindset for the year ahead. Most importantly, I gauge the habits I have formed which are helping me, and those that are holding me back, and I hope to do more of the former and less of the latter.

So, when you are setting your goals for the new year, remember that a goal is only as good as the resolution that sits behind it, and a resolution is only as good as the habits that form it.

Ben Rerden

Assistant Dean of Learning - Student Development & Learning Analytics