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Friday, January 2, 1998 Published at 15:30 GMT



Talking Point

Is it worth making a New Year resolution? Your reaction

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1. The BBC website will change the default setting on talking point from "yes" to "no," causing apparently massive swings of opinion.
2. Intelligent life will be discovered on a planet. Unfortunately the planet isn't Earth.
3. Massive and steadily more abusive arguments about when the New Millennium really begins, will take place. Crafty people will celebrate on 31 Dec. 1999 - and - 31 Dec. 2000.
Therion Ware, Malaysia

It's a fine idea, as long as it's approached properly. Over in the USA, there are frequent TV adverts for (presumably lucrative) "Psychic Hotline" phone services; at the end of every ad the small print says "Must be over 18. For entertainment purposes only." New Year's Resolutions fall into the same category - and it's cheaper than calling an expensive telephone "psychic"!!!
Geoff Arnold, USA

Yes - it's important to take this annual chance to realise what you would like to change, even if you don't stick to your resolutions- you are aware of what they are!
Nathan Morley, Cyprus

I'm going to resolve to take more exercise (in 1999...)
Robert Carnegie, UK

A resolution helps you focus on something that should make a positive difference in your life or somebody else's life.
Jim Thorburn, USA

Yes, one should always have goals, it's the only way we can grow and make life worth living.
Amy Reyes, United States

If it is something I feel strongly about I may try harder to stick with it.
Brian Dornbach

Any time of the year the concept of trying to better oneself is good.
B Browning, USA

I think New Year's resolutions are a good idea because they are an opportunity to make a positive difference in your life and they also help to resolve any problems you may have.
O Whitfield, UK

To make New Year's resolutions is to set yourself up for failure. The things you want to change take a more constant commitment. Happy New Year!
Josephine Martin, United States

Making resolutions helps focus on goals for the New Year. Even if they are only partially fulfilled, something is better than nothing.
Inez Kirby, USA

The last few years' New Year's resolutions have been good chances to solidify emerging decisions from earlier in the year, as well as to make much needed new ones.
Barmak Kusha, USA

I don't bother making resolutions because you don't keep them anyway and you don't remember them a week or two later anyway.
Bill Corkwell, Canada

Making a New Year's resolution is necessary as a reminder to be a better person. As I get older, I often recognise faults of younger people which I used not to. Although middle aged people like myself are supposed to behavee as if they know better, they are not necessary strong and faultless. As a Japanese proverb goes, the heads of well grown wheat bend well. It can be a good starter to reduce our faults one by one every year.
Hiroshi Nakamoto, Japan

Why make them if I can't (won't) keep them?
Augusta Eller, USA

It's always worthwhile to perform an annual self-examination of where one is in life, and what improvements can, and should, be made. No, one won't manage all of them, but even one or two is a darn sight better than nothing.
Anne Ivy, USA

Yes, you have to have something to break, in the New Year!
Alec Hendry, London, UK

Instead of just going forward aimlessly, each one of us should set our own goals for the coming year and be guided accordingly in our actions. This is something like having an annual vision statement to guide our path ahead. If indeed, we succeed in achieving our objectives, this would serve to encourage us to plan further ahead. On the other hand, if we fail, at least we can review our actions and thus avoid repeating our mistakes.
Ch'ng Kim Hock, Malaysia

Though it largely depends on what the resolution is and whom one gives it to, but it is rather nice to remember one's resolutions, and on 31 of December say to oneself: OK, that's what I have promised and that's what I have done.
Felix Polianski, Latvia

Yes, because positive thinking in these dark times is very difficult. Cynism is wide spread. We owe it to our children to make the world a better place for all of us. It's one of the moments we should realise this!
Huub Ottenhof, The Netherlands

I don't think that any body has the memory capacity to remember their resolutions throughout the year. The mind is too busy solving current problems.
Kiflom, USA

New Year's resolutions are important simply because as humans, we behave better when we set simple goals and work to do our best to achieve them. Goals recenter us upon what's important versus what is not. If we fail to meet our goals, the opportunity is still there to try again or to modify the goals so that they are more meaningful or realistic. I plan to make a few New Year's resolutions: 1. to try not to be so fussy about small matters of no importance and 2. to pay better attention to the needs of others.
David Mawdsley, United States of America

I've no idea if it is worth making New Year resolutions. But next year I'll definitely think about it.
John Carling, UK

It is worth making realistic New Year's resolutions because having achieveable goals ahead of you gives you a more positive and productive view of life.
Mark Bruce, Scotland

You need to set goals in order to improve yourself. Without this what is the point of life? This should not be taken as depression or defeatism; no one is perfect.
George Durocher, Canada

At least it gives you an opportunity to pause and think whether you want to change anything in your life.
Bobby,UK

To make so many false promises, at a time of year when we are neither physically, mentally, or financially capable, is a receipe that is doomed for failure.
David Livsey, Canada

It's a great idea. A new year, a clean slate, the chance to improve and be perfect for a day or two!
Chris Holmes, South Africa

Dr Anusha Arasu Malaysia No! Because you make them in the morning and they are forgotten by the evening!
Dr Anusha Arasu, Malaysia

I believe it is very important to make a yearly resolution at the beginning of each new year. It is a mission statement for us to follow through and renew during the forthcoming months.
Chui Eng Tan, Malaysia

I resolve not to make any more New Years resolutions.
Babak Hodjat, Japan

I think that New Year resolutions can at least give you hope! Once a year, at that particular moment, you fool yourself into believing that you are finally going to accomplish something that you have never been able to. Good psychological therapy I would say.
Tom Lau, Canada

I feel it gives you a goal.
Mike, USA

New Year resolutions are almost impossible to keep. I think it's better to start each day resolved to do better than the day before in areas of one's life that need improvement. It's easier to tackle problems in small increments and there's a real sense of accomplishment if the end of the day brings some semblance of success. On the other hand, if you've made no progress you only have to wait until the next morning to try again!
Jeannie Toone Brooks, U.S.A.

Of course it is. If nothing else they give people an incentive to do something they've been putting off, such as dieting after the Christmas food binge or stopping smoking.
Neil Tonks, UK

People tend to set lofty goals for the New Year. When you slip up you feel like a failure.
Anne, USA

A person should always make an effort - even if they fail. This is the end of the year, a time to reflect, and naturally think of ways to improve one's self.
Kim Bova, USA

It is not worth making New Year resolutions. Making a New Year resolution serves only to point out one's own flaws, which really makes no sense at all.
Gideon Stargrave, UK

I wholeheartedly endorse the concept of making New Year resolutions. It serves to remind me of the imperfections and frailties that make us human, in ones aspiration to better and brighter things.
Osborne F. D'Souza, MD, USA

Why not? It's worth a try! And as they say, if you don't succeed, in this case, there's always next year!
Sabrina Subramanyam, London

It's one of those tricks we use to delude ourselves into thinking we can become better people. If we really want to change, we will do so - and we will not need or use the false prop of New Year to prompt us.
Gordon Basford, UK

There's no harm, but I think we need to be honest with ourselves. Do we just make these resolutions because it's expected of us at this time of the year? Do we really think we are going to stick to them?
W. Jones, Cardiff, Wales





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