My ambition is to be more ambitious

Why should New Year's be special?
When you want to change, do it. Especially if it is good (for you and/or others).

I don't make them either.

We're suppose to start the old diet thing today and my neighbor sent us an invitation to come an eat... ugh!

Nah. I've never really been into doing that. It's rather silly.

When I was seventeen I came to the conclusion that new years resolutions were not normally kept by anyone, so I vowed to keep mine. I decided not to make them. It has been twenty years and I have kept it completely.

Not any more. There are limits to cheat oneself.

If yopu need to change something in your life, it canm be a good start point. I've made one, to move to France, buy a renovation project and find a partner. Before brexit.

I used to sort of make some general ones. I didn't even really remember or particularly care this year. I think people get bolstered up on hope and excitement and make goals that are just probably too difficult to reach, and/or lose sight of them as the year progresses.

Many years ago, I resolved never to make another resolution.

I made one last year to try and be a kinder gentlier person. For me that mean, trying to respect my friends who would rather I don't say fuck or god fucking damn it. Long/short I did not do too bad but found I was not spending as much time with some folks as I had in the past. Make new friends!! Then last week I found this site. I joined Facebook last March 2017 to vent my political frustration with trump and the gop. The tax scam got passed, I was burnt out with thinking reasonable comments that got lots of likes and very few trolls but found the Alabama Jones victory high did not last as it was soon back to the same bullshit. Maher, Colbert all on vacation and THEN this site popped up on the facebook page and here I am. It is very nice to find freethinkers, people willing to question the dogma, the whole gambit of religion, god, the church, social mores, etc. I am having fun.
The resolution going forward is to have more fun and if I swear - fuck it.

To take down those in our government that have put money before people.

Betting against myself? Never.

The calendar is just an invention. However, setting self improvement goals, no matter how small, are important to me, in order to streamline my habits, get rid of them, or create new ones. I think it's a way of moving forward in our development. Goal don't need to be grandiose to be effective. It keeps me from procrastinating.

I keep them general and vague, but it can be a good focal point. If it takes three years to get the result, it was still a success.

Not really a resolution, but i'm trying to be the best version of myself so that I can live up to my potential :3

I don't. I did notice that the "deal of the day" on Amazon is for fitness equipment and energy / diet supplements... So, I think a lot of people still do.

I do not make resolutions. Life has its ups and downs and I just work for more ups than downs and ride the waves as they come.

I just try to do something different each year.

I stopped about three years ago, except I didn't, I still want to improve myself.

If I had set goals the last few years and actually accomplished them, they would have sent me in the wrong direction and I wouldn't be where I am today.

I know that some studies indicate that setting goals makes you more likely to be successful (when approached the right way), but I like the pitfalls presented in this article: [fastcompany.com]

Article Synopsis:

• YOUR FOCUS CAN BECOME TOO NARROW “Leaders focused on a specific goal tend to miss alternative ways to achieve the same or better results, ignore warning signs that the ‘engine is hot,’ and miss what they could have learned on the journey by only thinking about the destination,”
• YOU OFTEN SACRIFICE ONE GOAL FOR ANOTHER “Goals that are easier to achieve and measure (such as quantity) may be given more attention than other goals (such as quality) in a multi-goal situation,” he writes.
• GOALS CAN BE LIMITING goals can become ceilings rather than floors for performance
• GOALS CAN PROMOTE UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR (you get so focused on achieving the goal you're willing to cross you're willing to be "unethical" to accomplish them).
• GOALS CAUSE YOU TO ADDRESS FAILURE Missing a specific goal, even slightly, can be easily interpreted as failure, which can limit potential
• GOALS ELIMINATE THE POWER OF RANDOMNESS Innovation comes from a certain degree of chaos and randomness

And the author's conclusion: A BETTER REPLACEMENT
Instead of asking yourself if you’re meeting your goals, Galinsky suggests asking, “Am I meeting my preferences? Writing those down can be helpful because it allows you to not lose track of it,” he says. “Sometimes we forget what’s important to us. But this changes over time.”

It is old in style. such as having to kiss someone at the stroke, It is nice but truly out dated

I resolved to be less sarcastic.

Resolutions, as you know don't work. But setting goals, now that is manageable. Every year I set my goals for the new year. That focus makes me think what do I need to do this week to make achieve this goal. I then review my calendar every week to see what I need to do in the coming week. At the end of the year I discover I have completed my stated goal, more often then not ahead of schedule and have set a new goal, which I achieved as well. It's a process I recommend.

I like to think of it as my New Year's refresh of strategy, rather than a new resolution. Doing better with diet and fitness is by its very nature an ongoing commitment and its not a bad or wasteful idea. What is maybe not so helpful are rigid demands on myself that set me up for frustration and discouragement.