Resolutions ring in the New Year

LUMBERTON — Jonna Davis isn’t usually one to set New Year’s resolutions.

But 2015 was different. The mother of three young boys had a simple goal in mind — although it’s easier said than done.

“I wanted to do a pull-up before the end of the year. And on Oct. 26 I did my first one,” Davis said, sitting on a bench at Southeastern Health’s CrossFit Q.F.E., where that magical can-do moment happened.

When her chin passed that metal bar, Davis joined an elite group: According to a study published in January by the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, of the people who make resolutions, about 46 percent break them by June, and only about 8 percent ultimately achieve their goal.

“Whether it’s fitness or other things, I think we can always improve,” said Davis, a Massachusetts native who has lived in Lumberton since 2003, when she graduated from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Despite the discouraging statistic, people everywhere continue to set such goals come Jan. 1. According to the same University of Scranton study, about 45 percent of Americans regularly make New Year’s resolutions.

Davis set her goal knowing that a CrossFit gym was set to open in Lumberton in April. But she hadn’t attempted a pull-up in a while when a friend and workout buddy asked how she was progressing.

“If I hadn’t tried it that day, I might not know I could do one,” she said.

For others looking to achieve a fitness goal in 2016, Davis says “stick with it.” She also said it helped to have a friend to motivate her and check in on her progress.

“There’s good days and there’s bad days. Not every day is going to be a person’s best day but over time if you commit and put in the work, you really can’t help but get better,” she said.

Davis may be on to something: According to the Scranton study, “people who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.”

The 10 most popular resolutions, according to the Ohio college, are “lose weight; get organized; spend less, save more; enjoy life to the fullest; staying fit and healthy; learn something exciting; quit smoking; help others in their dreams; fall in love; and spend more time with family.”

New Year’s resolutions usually fall into four categories: self improvement or education, weight, money and relationships. Millennials are more likely to keep their resolutions than older Americans. About 39 percent of people in their 20s are successful compared with 14 percent of people age 50 and older.

The top resolutions identified by the University of Scranton study are in line with what Kim Pevia, a certified life coach who lives in Red Springs, sees while helping clients achieve their personal goals, especially around New Year’s.

Pevia says the way we frame our resolutions has a lot to do with how achievable they are. She suggests tying a resolution to the reason why you set it in the first place.

“If your resolution is to spend more time at home, then why? Is it to develop deeper relationships with your children? Is it to save money on the babysitter? Is it to read to them nightly? What is your why? Your why will pull you closer to your goal than just the goal alone,” she said.

Resolutions are also more achievable when broken down into “smaller more manageable pieces that can become habits,” Pevia says, like planning ahead to leave the office early a few times a week in order to be home with family.

Pevia says many people abandon their resolutions because they feel they are bound to fail. Instead, she recommends focusing on making progress and remembering that personal growth may not happen — and doesn’t need to happen — within a calendar year.

“Change is not always a light switch but often rather a series of small incremental steps that can take root over time,” she says.

As for Pevia, she plans to reach outside her comfort zone in 2016.

“My why is because I want to see what else is possible. My how — in the prescription of Eleanor Roosevelt — to do at least one thing each day that scares me and to say ‘yes’ more,” she said.