• by Robert Passikoff , Op-Ed Contributor, January 4, 2016

It’s been said that a New Year’s resolution is bound to be broken. Maybe it’s just that people set the bar too high for themselves. 

My favorite acknowledgment of that is the one that goes, “My New Year’s resolution list usually starts with the desire to lose between 10 and 3,000 pounds.” It turns out that losing weight has perennially been No. 1 on most people’s New Year’s resolution lists, and that was true again this year.

How do we know? As part of our annual Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index (those results will be available in February, we promise!), we also asked 11,600 men and women about their 2016 New Year’s resolutions. Here’s their top 16:

1. Lose weight 

2. Eat healthier

3. Exercise more/more regularly

4. Save more money

5. Keep my resolutions more than a week

6. Get organized/plan better

7. Get out of debt/pay all my bills

8. Be a better person/volunteer

9. Spend less time on Facebook

10. Spend more time with my family

11. Quit smoking

12. Learn something new/a new language

13. Get a new job

14. Drink less

16. Find a new relationship

17. Read more books 

As it turns out, not everyone makes a New Year’s resolution. According to this year’s survey, only 58% plan to do so for 2016. And, alas, on average only 9% are successful at keeping them, to one degree or another. Maybe that number would be higher if we called them something else, like “New Year’s casual promises” or “things you think would be a good thing to do, but are under no legal obligation to fulfill.”

Or maybe it’s just like Mark Twain said. “Now is the accepted time to make your annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”