New Year\u2019s resolutions are a great proof of the Bondage of the Will.\u00a0 We just cannot do what is right or even what is good for us by sheer will power.\u00a0 We might for awhile, but then we fall.\u00a0 Similarly, we might keep our resolutions for awhile, but before too long we break them.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, I think making New Year\u2019s resolutions is still a good idea.\u00a0 Even if you do something helpful for just a few days, that\u2019s something.\u00a0 And they make us form beneficial goals, as well as making us conscious of our limitations.<\/p>\n
There are ways to keep some of them:\u00a0 Move them over from resolves of the will to habits of the mind.\u00a0 Force yourself to do them a few times\u2013perhaps by using an external checker or incentive\u2013and eventually you can do them automatically without thinking or willing.<\/p>\n
\n
This works best with indifferent things, such as keeping a clean desk or deleting unwanted emails every day.\u00a0 Although if you read a chapter of the Bible every night before going to sleep, after awhile, you won\u2019t be able<\/em> to sleep until you\u2019ve read your Bible. Doing things by habit takes away any claims of merit, but the habits will be good for you nonetheless.<\/p>\nSo what\u2019s your experience with New Year\u2019s Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them?<\/p>\n
Have you made any interesting resolutions for 2026?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What’s your experience with New Year’s Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":59751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[1573],"class_list":["post-87735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-new-years-resolutions"],"yoast_head":"\n
DISCUSS: New Year's Resolutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What's your experience with New Year's Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DISCUSS: New Year's Resolutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's your experience with New Year's Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-02T10:55:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-28T22:34:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2022\/03\/cranach1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/\",\"name\":\"DISCUSS: New Year's Resolutions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-02T10:55:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-28T22:34:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"What's your experience with New Year's Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DISCUSS: New Year’s Resolutions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DISCUSS: New Year's Resolutions","description":"What's your experience with New Year's Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DISCUSS: New Year's Resolutions","og_description":"What's your experience with New Year's Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2025-01-02T10:55:35+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-28T22:34:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":200,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2022\/03\/cranach1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/","name":"DISCUSS: New Year's Resolutions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-01-02T10:55:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-28T22:34:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"What's your experience with New Year's Resolutions?\u00a0 Have any of them stuck?\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for making them or keeping them? Did you make any interesting ones for 2026?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/discuss-new-years-resolutions-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DISCUSS: New Year’s Resolutions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2022\/03\/cranach1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n