Episode 175: As the calendar turns to a new year, millions of people set out to make positive changes in their lives through New Year's resolutions. However, the success rate for these resolutions is notoriously low. Hosts Scott Rada and Rick Kyte explore the complexities and challenges of setting and achieving New Year's goals.

The hosts begin by examining why we are so drawn to making resolutions, even though many of them fail. Kyte suggests the timing plays a role, as the excess of the holiday season leads people to want to cut back in areas like spending and weight.

But Rada wonders if the timing of New Year's resolutions, at the height of winter in many parts of the country, makes them more difficult to stick to. He proposes that shifting the new year to about April 1 could be more conducive to resolutions focused on exercise, healthy eating and spending time with loved ones.

The hosts also discuss the challenge of balancing multiple resolutions, with Kyte emphasizing the importance of changing daily routines incrementally to support various goals. However, they acknowledge the conflict between our aspirations and our natural impulses, shaped by evolution to seek out calorie-dense foods and avoid physical exertion.

Rada and Kyte stress the need to find ways to make healthy activities enjoyable, such as incorporating social elements. They also highlight the value of accountability, whether through public declarations of goals or relying on peer pressure from friends.

Links to stories discussed during the podcast

New Year’s resolutions: Who makes them and why? by Shanay Gracia, Pew Research Center

The psychology behind why new year’s resolutions fail, by Cynthia Vinney, Verywell Mind

How to achieve more with the right goals, by Jason Feifer, One Thing Better

About the hosts

Scott Rada is a digital strategist with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He is also the author of "Finding Your Third Place: Building Happier Communities (and Making Great Friends Along the Way)."