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Expert Advice

Christoph Hitz

'No matter how many times we've failed in the past, setting resolutions will always be a part of celebrating the New Year. Research shows that just deciding to exercise makes people feel taller, and starting a diet makes people feel stronger and more hopeful. Sometimes the best part of the New Year's resolution is the momentary promise that this year will be better. And there's nothing wrong with that.'

-- Kelly McGonigal, PhD '04, lecturer on willpower in Continuing Studies

Christoph Hitz

'New Year's resolutions should be renamed New Year's fantasies. They are too indefinite, non-committing and distal to exert influence on intractable behavior. People are looking for easy fixes rather than a change in their habitual patterns of behavior. For example, the countless diet books are more successful in reducing buyers' cash flow than in helping them to shed pounds.

'Personal change requires unswerving commitment to a desired future and resilient exercise of self-influence over the long haul to realize it.'

-- Albert Bandura, professor of social science in psychology