Thinking of starting all over again with the turn of the New Year? Don’t bother because making resolutions is a near pointless exercise, psychologists have clarified. A university study found that those who fail to live up to their goals become dispirited in the process and more despondent than before.
Psychologist Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire, and colleagues quizzed 700 people about their strategies for achieving New Year goals. Experts found that of the 78 percent who failed in their plans turned their attention to the downside of not achieving the target and turned to misleading self-help gurus, which almost appeared to guarantee disaster.
“Many of these ideas are frequently recommended by self-help experts but our results suggest that they simply don’t work,” the Guardian quoted Wiseman as saying. The research further found that those who did fulfil their promises to themselves divided their goal into smaller steps and treated themselves on each of their achievements. Those with more realistic and smaller goals had an average success rate of 35 percent, the study found. Wiseman further cautioned against last minute resolutions that he said were likely to end up in the dump. He said: “If you do it on the spur of the moment, it probably doesn’t mean that much to you and you won’t give it your all. Failing to achieve your ambitions is often psychologically harmful because it can rob people of a sense of self control.”
In the Philippines, it’s a bit strange that most of the stars don’t embrace the traditional New Year’s resolutions anymore.
“I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions or wishes anymore. I don’t have that anymore. I’ve stopped resolving my life come New Year,” said comic Benjie Paras.
“Why?”
“Because in the past, I had so much resolutions but I didn’t fulfill them not because I couldn’t do them. It’s just because circumstances didn’t warrant them,” answered Paras, an erstwhile basketball player who was formerly married to actress Jackie Forster.
For Paras, it’s que sera, sera.
Actor Phillip “Ipe” Salvador has also stopped believing in New Year’s resolutions.
“It’s only God who can resolve our lives,” Salvador quipped.
Ipe has been an active member of a Born Again Christian movement denomination and carries the Bible wherever he goes.
During the recent Christmas party of the Actors Guild of the Philippines, a group that he leads, Salvador urged the members to put the Lord first in all their activities.
“Ilagay po natin, pangunahin si Hesurkristo sa lahat ng ating ginagawa,” he said before the crowd who comprised mostly of lowly workers, extras, character actors, and stuntmen.
“Ang New Year’s resolutions ay nasa ating mga puso lang,” he publicly pronounced.
The so-called Escolta Boys (a group of wannabes who frequented the haven of movie stars in the 70s and 80s, which was the Escolta commercial district) admitted that they no longer believe in New Year’s resolutions.
The more they vow to become better or best, the more frustrated they get, they explained.
The Escolta Boys were composed of Bobby Angeles and Leo Lazaro, film hunk Joel Ortega and stuntman Bobby Sorio.
“Hindi rin naman kami nagkakatrabaho sa showbiz ngayon kahit na mag-resolve pa kami nang mag-resolve,” they chorused.
Meanwhile, young mom and actress Jodi Sta. Maria remains optimistic.
“We don’t have to say die. We still have to wish for something and strive for it. I myself, I wish for better health and better future not only for myself and my husband but more so, for our loved ones especially our kid,” said Sta. Maria.
Optical Media Board chairman Ronnie Ricketts has a gargantuan responsibility to shoulder not only in 2010, but throughout the years as long as piracy in the country remains unresolved.
“I wish for the eradication of piracy in the country,” he vehemently said.
From the Internet and Press Releases
