Why New Years Resolutions Are Scams

Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry

So, let’s talk about whether New Year's resolutions are truly a scam or not…

Have you ever started a New Year’s resolution only to abandon it by March? Maybe you’ve felt like the whole concept was just a ploy for gyms, businesses, or apps to profit off your ambition, or in other words—a scam.

This very reason has repeatedly caused many people to lose motivation to achieve the goals they’ve set beforehand.

But here’s the truth—resolutions fail not because they’re a scam, but because of the approach many take while working on them. By focusing on vague goals or external pressures, most people set themselves up not to succeed but to fail.

That’s why in this episode, we’re debunking the “scam” myth as we share actionable strategies that will help you crush your goals for 2025 and set you up for success.

If you want to take control of your resolutions and make 2025 your best year yet, tune in to this episode and discover the mindset shifts and habits that will lead you to lasting success.

Why you need to check this episode:

-Learn why resolutions often fail by March (and how to avoid this common trap); -Understand the critical difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors, especially which among the two will truly drive you towards lasting success; and -Recognize how goal visualization, aligning your goals with your values, and creating systems—not just goals—set you up for long-term success

“Remember, New Year's resolutions are not a scam. Even though they sound like it, they are not a scam. It's the approach to your New Year's resolutions that is the scam. If you approach it in a scammy way…in a way that is only dictated on what it looks like on IG, what it looks like on TikTok, if you approach it in that fashion, then yeah, the scam is there—but you're the scammer. You're scamming yourself from being a better person…You are the scammer if you think New Year's resolutions are scams, because you are going to be able to try to tell yourself the lies that are available.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

Notable Quotes:

“In our journey of trying to figure out ‘is a New Year's resolution something that I should be doing?’, recognize [that] one factor is going to push you when all the outside world is blocked out and not paying you any mind, and one factor is going to maybe motivate you for the short run, but after a while, you're going to start making excuses…So, understand that there [are] two important drivers in your journey of trying to change for the better, trying to do something different. And depending on which route you go—[intrinsic] reasoning versus your extrinsic reasoning—is a good barometer of whether you'll be doing it come July, August, September and you'll be a different person come December.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

“Your brain does not want to fail; your brain is not trained to fail. It is trained to protect, but it’s not trained to fail.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

“It’s tough when we have to say, ‘I’m the reason why I failed’…So, I want you to be able to say, ‘I’m the reason why I lost the weight. I’m the reason why I go to the gym every day and I gained all this muscle. I’m the reason why I’m a better friend to all of my friends now, and I’m the best brother or sister.’ I want you to be able to say at the end of 2025, ‘I’m the reason why these things are occurring’, because we have to look inward. It has to be an inward-looking goal to say ‘this is why I want to do it’, because that is what’s going to carry you for the year 2025 and beyond; trust me.” – Dr. Berry Pierre

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