2010 New Year's
Resolutions Indicate New Priorities: Personal Growth Surpasses Career & Finance Goals
Scottsdale, AZ — December 21, 2009 —
myGoals.com today announced its annual predictions describing what
types of resolutions people are expected to make during the coming
New Year's season.
myGoals.com, the Web's premiere site for
setting and reaching personal and professional goals, bases its
predictions on the current year's third quarter goal-setting
activity. According to an anonymous, random sample of goals people
have set at the site, this year's New Year's resolutions are
expected to break down as follows:
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Careers Take a Back Seat to Personal Aspirations
"People are really digging in mentally for a long recovery," said Greg Helmstetter, CEO of myGoals.com. "They seem to have stopped thinking about upgrading their jobs or climbing the career ladder any time soon. Instead, people are replacing career goals with personal aspirations." New Year's resolutions related to career goals dropped for the second year in a row, from 21% in 2008, to 18% in 2009, to a mere 12% projected for 2010. Meanwhile, goals related to personal growth have climbed from 13% in 2009 to 17% expected in 2010, making personal growth the second most popular category of resolution after health and fitness-related goals.
"This is the first time in nine years of collecting data that Personal Growth has achieved the number two position," said Helmstetter. Health and fitness goals, including those to lose weight, have been the leading category of goals every year that the company has collected data.
A Boon for Books?
The most popular group of Personal Growth goals are those related to reading. "One out of five Personal Growth resolutions is made by somebody setting a goal to read more often," said Helmstetter. Other Personal Growth goals include those related to hobbies, personal enrichment, volunteerism, and spirituality.
Implications for Travel and Education
The Personal Growth category does not include resolutions related to education or recreation, which myGoals.com measures separately. Recreation goals are expected to increase by 3% in 2010 and education goals are expected to drop slightly, from 8% in 2009 to 6% in 2010.
These trends are consistent with what's happening in the Personal Growth and Career categories. "In our data, goals related to recreation, leisure, and travel tend to correlate with interest in personal growth, which makes intuitive sense," said Helmstetter. "After a notable dip last year, we're definitely seeing renewed interest in travel, taking vacations, and spending time outdoors."
The outlook for higher education may not be so bright.
"What is less intuitive," said Helmstetter, "is that educational goals don't correlate as well with personal growth. Instead, they reflect what's going on in the job market." In nine years of data, education-related goals have consistently remained flat, ranging from 6-9% of the goals that people set. Within this range however, education goals have historically dipped when the job market is strong, and edged upward during economic downturns as people seek to upgrade their skills or sit out a recession by going back to school.
"What's unusual this year is that we're seeing a drop in both career and educational goals," said Helmstetter. "We suspect it's just a response to the current financial climate and rising cost of education, and not an indication that a large group of people have given up on their careers for the long-term. But regardless of the cause, it's a bit concerning."
myGoals.com's annual
predictions of New Year's resolutions are based on the ordinary
goal-setting activity of myGoals.com users during the third quarter of the current calendar year. Three hundred and fifty anonymized goals, set by
the site's users, were selected at random and tabulated to generate
the trends outlined above. No survey was involved; these are actual goals set by everyday users. This is not a
scientific study and should not be taken to represent the behavior
of the entire U.S. population with statistical significance.
myGoals.com's userbase does, however, generally broadly represent
the adult, U.S. Web-surfing population.
About
myGoals.com, Inc.
myGoals.com is the Web's premier site
for setting, managing, and reaching personal and professional goals.
Individuals can set as many goals as they like, creating custom
GoalPlans from scratch or selecting from a library of pre-made
GoalPlans that contain expert advice for accomplishing the goal.
myGoals.com then sends email reminders to keep the individual on
track, until the goal is accomplished. This subscription-based
service is free to try for 10 days. Gift certificates available.
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CONTACT: Anthony Helmstetter myGoals.com, Inc. (480)
948-1659 press@mygoals.com
