Approximately 50 percent of the population makes resolutions each New Year, according to Psychology Today. Among the top resolutions are weight loss, exercise, stopping smoking, better money management and debt reduction. Lack of commitment, unrealistic goals and expectations are the most common reasons why these hopes fail to rewire our brain and way of being.
However, BYU–Hawaii students and faculty find strength in gospel principles for constant improvement. “I have the most success with resolutions,” said Jennifer Lane, Associate Vice President of Academics and professor of religion, “when it is not a once-a-year event, but when it is tied to my covenants; the sacrament, listening to the promptings of the spirit and trying to ask the question, ‘What lack I yet?’ Mostly I get help on ideas of what I can do differently and better. Be more organized, use time better and do more things that are uplifting.”
“It is important to set some goals,” said Brandon Greer, a junior majoring in accounting from Virginia. “We all have to improve on certain things. I need to go to the gym more. Get some abs for the ladies,” he added laughingly. “It helps me to go in with a plan. I will write out my work out schedule and be recording my increases.”
He added, “It has been harder to do missionary work. That’s going to be a big goal next year to have more meaningful opportunities.”
Lane also said that sometimes her questions keep nagging her for a long time, because those changes take a long time. “It takes some time for the spirit to work on me so that I really want to make those changes. It is what repentance means to me. Changes are all very practical problems for us.”
She further stated, “It is an ongoing process for of going from where we are to where we want to be. I see something today that I want to improve. Not only do differently but a new way to be. It is hard to change how we live.”
Carley Johnson, a junior majoring in EXS from Utah, is going on her mission to Argentina in the spring. Apart from the commitment to serve the Lord for 18 months, one of her goals is to run another half-marathon.
“The Lord has given us everything that we have,” she said. “How can we not give him everything that we have? In the scripture and general conference talks it says once you start to love and understand the gospel you want nothing more than to share it. That’s how I feel. I am so happy for everything I know and have because of the gospel. I want the people of Argentina to have that joy too.”
Lane pointed out how mistakes can be motivation for change. Furthermore, she referred to what Elder Neil A. Maxwell called “divine discontent.” The spirit pushes us to where we can be better, different. “The spirit is part of the sanctification process. It takes a while for these desires to build up and focus. That is the spirit of New Year resolutions. We need to ask for the help of the Savior, so we develop the desire to change. There are so many things we need to change we have to do them one step at a time in measures we can control.”
Greer also talked about the guiding help of God. “Transitioning from the mission I have been way more goal-focused as before. I have more of a plan of what I want to do.”
Lane added, “I think it is a danger to lack commitment to goals. Commitment to God gives us more power and strength.”
She talked about how our binding to God actually frees us. “The commitment is what distinguishes us from the world. We commit to something beyond ourselves, for example to God, our spouse or the honor code. Binding ourselves gives us strength to do it, to stay in place.”
She concluded by saying that commitment is a powerful tool of the Lord to keep us on the path and on the safe side. “When I stop being faithful, be it to God or a fellow man, I stop loving. Obligations that bind us are what saves us.”