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Comment by mildtrepidation | Hacker News Reader

I wish people would give up New Year's resolutions... and not as a New Year's resolution. They're little more than an excuse to fail: People who are going to do something do it. People who aren't are still going to talk about it. There's a morbid example here that I don't need to explicitly state.

If you're doing something you consider bad, or aren't doing something you want to do, then start (or stop) NOW. Don't wait for 2014. January 1 is not some magic date. Ever have a friend who's going to start that diet next month? Guess what a New Year's resolution is? It's not a commitment. It's an excuse not to do something now.

I'm just as guilty as anyone of doing this, but let's not pretend "what I'm going to do in 2014" isn't utterly meaningless unless it's something you are and have been working towards that can't happen until 2014 because it's just that damn hard.

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I disagree.

I quit smoking easily last year on January 1st. I decided to quit a month prior to Christmas, but I was afraid of the jolliness of the season making me slip. I assume it is the same for exercise, portion control, and alcohol consumption moderation.

Sometimes it is nice to have a clean break in a month where nobody bothers you and where you haven't had a routine for a couple of weeks.

Although I really wish the gym wouldn't pack up so much.

Care to give pointers/mindset/whatever helped, for quitting smoking?

Smoke two packs of Marlboro reds in a 1 hour timespan.

Yep that should do it.

Downvoted? Are you kidding me? Does anyone have a sense of humor anymore?

Honestly it was when someone (the CEO of 500px, actually) told me that quitting smoking was easy. You feel weird for the first two days and after that its only a 5 min period here or there that gets you tempted.

He was totally, 100% right. At least for me. It was a mindset change from something being impossibly hard to something being temporary and really pretty easy. During the first two days I had an inhaler that I used a total of 3 times splitting 1.5 cigarettes worth of nicotine then I just put it down and didn't come back.

The current gen of e-cigs are amazing. They're not better than quitting full-stop, but they are a great, easy step in that direction.

Alan Carr's Easy Way to Quit smoking for me. 10 months now and it really was quit easy after being on Marlboro Reds for 10 years. Started reading it after a thread on Reddit with no real intention to quit, smoked throughout (as he recommends) then was convinced to stop when I finished the book. It's a little cheesy/self-helpy but it's short and worth giving a shot and taking seriously. I immediately felt free when I stubbed my last cig.

I'm of the same mindset. When someone tells me about their new-years resolutions, I actually get the impression that they're pretty wishy-washy people without much conviction or willpower. And it's usually a correct impression.

I think it's a good occasion to stop with the rat race to fulfill small chores for a moment and think about larger goals. With that said, I almost always failed meeting new year resolutions. I think the problem for me was being in school that always burned me out with homework, assignments and exams. Once I got out of 24/7 academic pressure, I was able to work on longer term goals.

I finally achieved some new year resolutions for the first time this year.

I had 3 goals.

1. Success: Write a book on Ruby. I finished writing and I am just editing right now.

2. Failed: Create an app and get 100 active users. Launched dmtri.com, but failed to get 100 active users.

3. Success: Hit the gym. I've been going to gym regularly.

I think this is a good illustration of the value of process-based goals over outcome-based goals. The things under control, you completed. Those not under your control you did not. Sounds pretty cool to me.

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