Don’t give up on those new year resolutions

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg had once remarked that her “New Year’s resolution every year — and I’m Jewish, so I get two New Years a year — is to meditate, and I fail every time”. Most Indians would tend to agree with her not only about the ephemeral nature of such resolutions but also the fact that even multiple new years — each an opportunity to reiterate pious intentions — do not make such promises any easier to keep. Indeed, the staggered beginnings of the new year in different parts of India act as periodic metaphorical warning pinches of slipping resolve but, ultimately, give up as the standard Gregorian calendar winds to a close. Of course, even if such resolutions tend to go ‘in one year and out the other’, that should not prevent ET readers from earnestly swearing to become richer, kinder, calmer, happier, quieter, sincerer, neater, smarter, thinner, healthier and, dare we say it, better human beings in 2016 as well.

That these vows provide countless sectors a welcome fillip in business at the start of the year is undeniable, even though studies confirm that 90% of ambitious new year commitments never make it past the first few weeks. Just as it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, it is better to firm up good intentions even if these are not consummated into action, than to remain irresolute.