Many Americans see New Years as a time to reflect on the past year and set resolutions for the coming one, but over the last two years there's been a dramatic decline in those making New Year’s resolutions. In this podcast, we will explore data from our State of the Health wellness tracker on Americans’ attitudes towards New Year’s resolutions. Stay tuned for insights!
Key Takeaways:
Resources:
Chuck Murphy 00:00
Hi, everyone. I'm Chuck Murphy. And I'm joined today by Maggie Bright and Sarah, Marion and we are going to talk about New Year's resolutions. And over the last two years, there's been a dramatic decline in resolutions. And we've had some internal debate on why that is and what that means. And we thought we'd make a podcast episode about it. So join us for a quick half hour discussion on resolutions and all of the latest trends. Hi, everyone, I'm Chuck Murphy. And I'm joined today by Maggie Bright and Sarah Marion. Sarah runs our State of Our Health tracking study, which is a deep dive into health and fitness and mindfulness that runs every single day of the year. And it's been around for a number of years. And one of the components of that study that we talked about every January is New Year's resolutions. So normally we're kind of looking at the resolutions themselves. But obviously over the last couple of years, there's been this tremendous macro event around COVID that has, you know, impacted people's lives in such a major way. And so we've been trying to kind of untangle how that impacts people's resolutions from, from what might be long term trends. And one of the things we've been talking about over the last week or two is the fact that over the last two years, resolutions have dropped pretty rapidly during COVID. Sarah, you want to talk a little bit about the decline of those? Do you have those numbers in front of you? Or would you rather I read them off?
Sarah Marion 01:33
No, I have them. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so this year 2022. We saw 32% of Americans aged 13 and up making new year's resolutions, or at least reporting that they made a New Year's resolution, most of them make three or fewer two thirds only make two resolutions, which is a nice doable amount. So that's there's reason for hope there. And this is essentially the same as last year 2021. So the like darkest depths of the pandemic 31% of Americans made resolution, so essentially unchanged. And that is really dramatically down from previous years. So in 2019, we have about half of people making resolutions, and then the year before Sorry, that was 2020. I get all my years mixed up now because time is a mush. Yeah. And then in 2019 62% said that they made a resolution. So this is a really steep drop off.
Chuck Murphy 02:34
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that when we first when we saw that last year, I think it made a little bit more. Something declined, made more sense in the middle of COVID. But the fact that it's dropped so dramatically. It's really kind of shocking half, half as many people are making resolutions, which is, it's a little bit of a pest pessimistic and depressing stat. And I think that that's where this conversation started is the three of us were talking and I asked the question of whether this is a long term trend that somehow been accelerated by COVID, something like working out at home or something like that. And I felt like Sarah very quickly said no to that. And I thought that that would lead to thinking, Oh, this is an interesting discussion for a podcast. Because I do think there's a lot to unpack here. And maybe, maybe we start with Maggie, you want to tell us how you would target that that sharp decline.
Maggie Bright 03:30
I mean, I think Sarah made a really good point at the outset, when she was trying to remember what year it was, I think there's just this feeling of one year of bleeding into the next, during, during this pandemic. And sort of some of the optimism has left. A lot of people and I am a habitual resolution maker, I over index a number of resolutions. And I tried not I mean, this is the first year that I really was like, I don't know, if I should make any resolutions. Or maybe I'll only make one. Unfortunately, I'm habitual in my resolution making. So I still have 10. But I seriously thought about not making one this year for the first time in probably my entire adult life. And I think it's because it's so hard to find your bearings right now, whether that be related to just you know, chronological time and space type things or, you know, knowing what next month is going to look like or even next week, and, you know, I think Omicron That Omicron variant hit at a time when we would have started to really think about what our resolutions are and how to move forward and make a fresh start in 2022. And it was almost impossible to do that with more things shutting down and the need for more testing and the inability to find tests and so it I think it made us much more recluse in the new year. I mean, probably comparable to what we saw in 2021, but so much more so than 2020 or 2019. So I think it's I hope that there's a rebound next year because I think that that would signify that people feel optimistic. Again, I think there will be I think there's always going to be kind of like a lot of other areas where there's always going to be that third of the population that makes them no matter what, because that's kind of who they are. But I hope you know that others will join that. That movement. I guess I'm an eternal optimist. So maybe that's, that's why I hope so much. But that's my thoughts on it.
Chuck Murphy 05:29
It just to be clear, is 10, a decline for you? Or is that the average number of resolutions you make? Or is that more?
Maggie Bright 05:37
Oh my gosh, I'm embarrassed. I just counted them. I actually have 12. So I made more.
Sarah Marion 05:42
Maggie is a true outlier in resolutions.
Maggie Bright 05:46
Well, I don't know if you remember, Chuck. But when we did this for the very first time, it was because I said I make 10 resolutions, and you said, that's insane. And you said that's crazy. And I said, I bet a lot of people make that many resolutions. And so we feel that this study and found out that I am insane.
Chuck Murphy 06:06
Not insane - an outlier is what you are. What I forgot. That's right. Because I thought I think of myself is pretty type A and I make three for the business and three for myself. And when Yeah, you said you said 10 in my head. I was thinking you said even more than 10. That's why but
Maggie Bright 06:23
Well, I have 12 right now and they are all over the board in terms of professional and personal. One of them is to get my dogs in shape. So you know, they vary.
Sarah Marion 06:34
Resolutions for the whole family.
Maggie Bright 06:36
Right?
Chuck Murphy 06:39
Do the dogs know about the resolution?
Maggie Bright 06:41
Oh, yeah, they got these little smart collars, so I can track their steps like we're all in it.
Chuck Murphy 06:47
Seriously? How did they not know that was the thing? Okay, so let's let's do so when this conversation first started, Sarah I feel like immediately went to it's because people are depressed. My initial reaction was not so much depression, but a lack of clarity, right? Like, it's hard to make a resolution if you don't know if you're going to be on lockdown for half a year for another three months for the whole year or but In the ensuing week, as we've been talking about this, there's a there's a lot more indication that Sarah might be right. Like we were looking at this, this General Social Survey that the University of Chicago runs every year. And this is the first time since the start of this this study in the 70s that more Americans say they're they're unhappy that say they're happy, which is just a remarkably depressing stat, when you see this scale plotted over the last 40 years. And then those 40 years include, you know, a lot of different periods of problems, but we've never seen more unhappy people. And for those either, like numbers, about 25% of Americans say they're unhappy and about 18% say they're happy, which is just kind of super depressing. So it So Sarah, you might be right. Is that is that that's the way I've come to your side on this is.
Sarah Marion 08:08
Well, that chart was just so I mean, remarkable. And also, you know, depressing. Because it I think different from those other years, perhaps is that we've had this long period where everybody is experiencing the same kind of negatives together. In you know, we know that that's not entirely true. But the the pandemic has been there for everyone. So even if you think it's a hoax, it's still there, you know, messing with your life no matter what, you can't make that go away. And that's, that's different from the, from all the other years that the survey has run, right and then now to have even though we're further along, actually and kind of fighting the pandemic, that the the all we're living with all of the other sports sorts of Fallout that's happened. So like, the economy is good, but also terrible, right? Employment is good, but also terrible, like everything. Nobody knows what is good or bad anymore almost. And and the uncertainty makes it difficult. So even if you're not depressed, nobody knows what life is gonna look like next year, we we thought we might have known what it was going to look like last year, and we were wrong. And so now we know not to even think about it. Because it's, it's just so uncertain. And then yeah, omicron did hit it right, right at the time where if that had not happened, the delta wave would have been receding and I think we would have seen a lot more resolution making because people would have felt more hopeful. But now we just I think that this is just my own speculation, obviously, but but the sense that there's just going to be one variant after another. Now I think people have taking that and accepted it. And we're seeing that in the data.
Maggie Bright 10:05
Well, resolutions are such a leap of faith already, right? Like, four out of five of them fail. And half of people fail by the end of January on their resolutions, right? So it's already sort of like a hard to win game. So if you're depressed, and you know, you're already feeling, not, you know, the best outlook on life, making a resolution that is going to be hard to accomplish is probably not your first move, right? I mean, and the reason they fail, right is because people aren't making specific ones, it's really hard to make a specific resolution in a constantly changing environment, or in one that is fraught with uncertainty. So I think like, it makes sense that if you're thinking through, like, I want to make a realistic resolution, most of them are about sort of aesthetics, or, you know, losing weight, quitting a habit, those types of things. Those are, those are crutches that we sometimes need, and these really depressing time. So, you know, it's like, it's not only is it a depressing time, I think it's even harder to make accomplishments on what most of our resolutions focus on. Because of all the uncertainty.
Chuck Murphy 11:12
It, it strikes me as, I think important that what Maggie just said pretty quickly, there is not something I knew before we started this study three years ago, I had no idea how many resolutions failed. When we first started this study, I've always made resolutions, and I always got the sense that most people did, or I always assumed most people did. I don't know. I mean, honestly, I guess I never thought too much about it. But when we did this study, which the first time was three years ago, I was actually shocked to find out that so many people gave up on their resolutions so quickly. And and then when we started talking about this, I don't know if either of you to remember it offhand. But it but it is something like what like 50% of them are they've given up by February 1 or something like that, like half of all resolutions, they've kind of they've already are not going to make,
Maggie Bright 12:00
right I mean, and it's because if you if you Google resolutions, which is you know, I don't really recommend doing that. The first thing that comes up is like what should my resolution be, which is like a recipe for failure already. You have to be connected to the resolution. Like even think you're gonna achieve it. But you know, there's all these all these articles that are like the 50 best resolutions, or it's, it's, you know, that's the number one reason they fail is because they aren't like personal enough, or, you know, you're they're not sort of like this thing that you really want and need to do. So I think that part is fascinating, too.
Sarah Marion 12:38
I think that the users, the sense that everybody makes them comes partly from stories like that, because the media is just awash, New Year's resolution stories, but and then also how they all fail. But I also think that just New Year's is not a good time to make resolutions. This is not the beginning of the new year in terms of like our animals sense of ourself. And the time to make resolutions is in the springtime. And so we're setting ourselves up for failure by trying to change our lives and the dead middle of winter right after the holidays. And make the case for April 1 resolutions.
Maggie Bright 13:19
I completely agree with you. I make mine quarterly so that way I get to start I mean, I don't start over I carry them through. But like it allows me to adjust them on a quarterly basis if needed. And I don't think of that as failure. It's evolution.
Sarah Marion 13:33
We we also see so last year, we asked people if they made resolutions and then kept the usually when we do this study, we only asked for January. But I kept it in there for longer because I wanted to see if that number changed over time. And it did. So the number of people who said they made resolutions went down. And so I think there is a recategorizeing of what you might have done as things move along. And it could be that the people who continue to say they made resolutions are the people who are successful in them. Because we also see that the number of people who say that they've done a good job on the resolution doesn't actually change that much. It's the number of people who say they made resolutions that changes.
Chuck Murphy 14:19
I want to just throw one other piece of background information out there because we have the three of us, you know have have looked at this data for three straight years, we've spent a lot of time talking about this. But for those of you that don't know, like we said before COVID was 62% of Americans and that that that numbers been pretty consistent for many years. So about six out of 10 people make resolutions and the categories that they make resolutions and the number one is is around diet nutrition. That's about 36% of people make resolutions in that area. Number two is fitness, career and finances three personal growth, mental health relationship kind of stuff are the other big categories and and this has been something that people have done for a long time that is I Sarah kind of hinted at this as well. So part of a massive marketing and publicity machine in January, so we have to take that with a grain of salt that there's it's being there's a little gasoline being poured on that fire, but it has been behavior that's been really stable. And so to go back to this point that that half, it's cut in half through COVID is really a fascinating topic to me. So So I want to maybe ask this question of you guys in one other way, which is, do you see a difference between being pessimistic and being depressed? Do you see that differently? And I might even throw one other word in there, which is, is kind of uncertainty, right? Because I think, how we how we see this data, these two data points, people making less resolutions, people reporting, they're being depressed. It's really interesting to untangle like, if COVID would all of a sudden, you know, be magically cured tomorrow, would you expect it to go back to 62%? Or do you think there's lingering issues that would hold that down? For some people?
Maggie Bright 16:01
These are hard questions. I don't think it will ever rebound back up to 60%. I just think that that's like, I don't know, I don't have empirical data that I could pull out and say like, this is why it will not but I do think like the collective atmosphere is just, I think it's more nothing cautious is the right word or depressed, I think it's just more sort of like, realistic, right? It's just not there's the rose colored glasses have been taken off. And now there's this fear because it's happened not fear is probably not the right word. There's this risk aversion perhaps that, you know, if this can happen, and it can just kind of take down our way of life. So quickly, can it happen again, or we'll set will something else come along? That's like it. And so I do think that there's been like, you know, you know, that the denominator of happiness has changed or something along those lines, it's a different playing field.
Chuck Murphy 17:06
So just to restate that the the change you feel like is still COVID to its won't recover from COVID. It's not, you're not, it's not that COVID came at a time of increased polarization or something else that pushed it down. But the reason you think it's never gonna come back is a lasting repercussion of some sort of fear of a pandemic coming back?
Maggie Bright 17:24
I think it's just it's, it's like revealed a lot of different tensions in our culture, society, whatever it is, right? So because we were already under the stress of COVID. So many other things came out, too. I mean, if you look at any, like, politically, were more polarized. Financially, I would guess we're more polarized as a as a country. So I just think it like exacerbated a lot of things, right? We talk about it exacerbating online fitness, but you have to imagine it's exacerbating other trends that are more like socio economic as well. And so I think those will be hard to recover from. Recovery is probably not the right word, either there, but I think it just exposed a lot of tensions that people are going to have, you know, long term impact from or I mean, you could even say trauma from I think that this has been a traumatic few years. And the trauma has been different for depending on who you are, like the level of it. And I think that that's something that will resonate in resolution numbers. I think they'll recover some, I think that we're at a low point, I hope that they come back. And I hope that I'm wrong, I hope they come back in our you know, surpass, because I I'm an optimistic person, but I think that Where's going to be challenges to getting people back to a 60% of people making a resolution? I just don't see that in the near future.
Chuck Murphy 18:48
How about you, Sarah?
Sarah Marion 18:50
Oh, I'll take the other side of that. I, I think humans have short memories. And I don't think that resolution making will bounce back right away. But I think that it is something similar to how you know what, during the pandemic, there's the sense that things will never change, you know, it's always gonna be the way that it is right now. And it's very hard to even imagine like going to a party or you know, doing air kisses to people and humans want to do that stuff. And so I think within a few years, we will be surprised how normal life we'll see him again, and then we'll see resolution making come back up. Because we'd want to get together we want to go out and see each other. We want to improve ourselves so that we can see and be seen. We want to be all better in the ways that resolution making is typically about and what might be dampened right now. I think all of the motivations that drive that desire to improve yourself will come back in time. Now I'm not saying society won't be different, because it will. But the all of the things that drive us to improve ourselves, I think will return.
Maggie Bright 20:15
I hope you're right. Chuck, you get to be the tiebreaker.
Chuck Murphy 20:19
It's a really interesting question. I tend to be very optimistic I a little bit more unsatisfied, although, this morning, I was reading that there was a got a lot of publicity in different news outlets, but there was the big study of the US. I guess the the other G7 nations in terms of you know, we were the most polarized the the highest income inequality and the highest death rate from COVID. And they were basically saying that those three things are very related, right? And you could almost turn this question around and say, if we were a little bit more, what's the right word for it here. To Be careful how to say this nicely. If we were nor the type of people that did make it stick to resolutions, at higher degree, then maybe we would be getting through COVID faster and better. Like some of you know, some of this is self inflicted inflicted damage, a lot of a lot of it is self inflicted damage. And it does they do they do kind of relate like, I think this kind of behavior? Well, it is like a very tight day, right? So I'll admit that right off the bat. But this kind of like forward looking, planning behavior, I think, is kind of critical to high level functioning, right? Like it doesn't, it doesn't have to be super complicated, but the ability to look into the future and say, how, how should my life be different? And what are the steps I could take to get there? I do think that there is a huge, there's a huge age story here, right? Like, you know, if you're, if you're 70, and you feel like your life's in a perfect place, you don't need to make major changes, I totally get that. And I think that that's something we've talked about before that people almost age out of resolutions. But for a lot of people, I do think it actually would improve happiness, but but I could, I know very smart people to take the other side of that, but I'm totally fine with that because you you can see it is a little you always you also have those like cognitive resources that come in, right, like when you if you aren't feeling optimistic, or you're feeling depressed, and you don't see some of those paths out of it.
Maggie Bright 22:24
I think having control over something, I'm not to say that you have control over your resolutions, but it is a form of exerting control on your situation, when you make a resolution and try to stick to it. Right? Particularly if it's like a habitual resolutions, I'm going to work out every day, or I'm gonna, you know, do X, Y, or Z on a regular basis like that, that can give you a sense of control, which then can you know, combat grief or depression or whatever. And so you asked earlier, is this depression? Or is it you know, or, you know, what is it and I think that there's a lot of uncertainty, which is sort of, you know, leading to more depression, and I wouldn't say what it's called, it's not causation, it's more correlation. I think that this idea that like, the more uncertain things are, the more likely you are to be depressed because you can't exert control over your self or your surroundings. And so I think it's kind of all tied up. And so then the question becomes, okay, is there going to be less uncertainty in the future? And then does that make it easier for me to make resolutions? And we'll see that number go up? And I wonder if I do agree with with both of you that, yes, human nature is to want to better better yourself and to connect with people and to kind of show your best foot forward when you do connect with people. But my skepticism comes around this certainty versus uncertainty piece of that puzzle, I think that there's always going to be something else. And if we don't learn how to adapt quickly, then that uncertainty level remains high, which then makes it hard to, to, to, you know, really encourage people to make resolutions that require some sense of certainty. So it's sort of like an endless cycle.
Chuck Murphy 24:01
Yeah, and I think that that's really where this discussion started for me. Like when that's why I was surprised when Sarah immediately went to depression is I was like, Well, I think to me, it's more like lack of lack of certainty. But then I you know, that there's is a lot of evidence that it is just straight up, like people are depressed, and they don't feel like getting up and making the change.
Maggie Bright 24:20
It feels like it's just like, escalation of number of things going wrong, right? So if it was any one thing in isolation, we might be okay. But like, throw so many things out at the same time, and there's like, uncertainty and depression.
Sarah Marion 24:33
It's all it's all of those things. And then and also fatigue, right and feeling overwhelmed. Because of the uncertainty because you're not feeling good because you don't have any of the outlets that you used to have or there's they're they're dramatically diminished. And therefore you can't you feel you don't feel a sense of control over your life. You can't see what your future is, and then and you're and you're reacting all the time rather than proactively planning which goes back to your point check. It's, you're unable to think about the future and plan for it in a way that you might normally be because you are held down by all these negative things that are affecting you in over determined ways.
Maggie Bright 25:21
Sarah, are you a resolution maker? We didn't we didn't establish that Chuck. And I both said, we make them.
Sarah Marion 25:27
I am and this is the first year where I didn't, I was overwhelmed. I couldn't get it together to make any I'm usually I make some kind of I think we've joked about this in the past like, teenager, I once made the resolution to be perfect.
Maggie Bright 25:43
My favorite resolution of all time, whenever I, whenever I think about resolutions, I remember that because I think it's amazing.
Chuck Murphy 25:52
And also she achieved it, right she got there. So it's like,
Maggie Bright 25:56
Totally she achieved it and she's maintained it. Like you can stop making resolutions.
Chuck Murphy 26:02
Right?
Sarah Marion 26:03
This is the classic failed revolution resolution, I failed right away. So now I make things that I know I can do. So every year except for this year, usually I make a resolution around one thing that I can do that is makes my life more sustainable. For a while I've been eliminating various pieces of single use plastic. That is like a really attainable goal. And then sometimes there's other things. I toyed with making a strength workout resolution. So I think I kind of made one that I was going to build more. Yeah, build more strength workouts into my schedule, but it never took the form of a real resolution because I was just too, too overwhelmed with everything going on. To get it down. Usually I write them down.
Chuck Murphy 26:51
That's one of mine this year is three strength workouts a week, which I hate. I love cardio. I hate strength. So that's that's it's a challenged for me.
Sarah Marion 26:58
I'm the same for me.
Chuck Murphy 26:59
And by the way, Sarah, you like this to one of our household resolutions for the years. We started composting in December.
Sarah Marion 27:04
Oh, good for you.
Chuck Murphy 27:06
Is that not the most hippyish thing ever? Right?
Maggie Bright 27:11
I have that on my list, too. I'm like in addition to resolution?
Chuck Murphy 27:16
You're doing that too Maggie? Is that what you said?
Maggie Bright 27:17
Yes, yes, I found a company to help me do it. I can't do it all on my own because I live in a very urbanly dense area. And it's a bad idea.
Sarah Marion 27:25
It's really difficult. It's one of it's like a really key thing you can do. It's for the climate. It's so effective for food waste. But if you live in an urban area, it's hard. Unless it provides it.
Maggie Bright 27:38
Well, there's also rodents.
Sarah Marion 27:40
Well, exactly.
Maggie Bright 27:42
Yeah.
Chuck Murphy 27:45
That's pretty fascinating. I do. You know, it's interesting. Maggie brought up this point, you know, this illusion of control, which which it is psychologists do is a little bit false. But it's very adaptive, right? The illusion is very beneficial in and of itself. Like, and that's it always bothers me when people are like, well, it's an illusion of control. And it's like, Yeah, but that illusion of control actually helps you makes you it always, you know, it always, you know, when they do those happiness studies, and they find out the happiest people are actually least realistic about what other people think of them. Well, that that's great good for that like, right. I mean, it's like there's this, I think there's something to do with resolutions, but But I also think there's something to the fact that it does, you know, every step you take is progress. So So forcing yourself to take three, even if you don't make it to 10, or whatever is progress, I think there's a very valuable component to it. So it does, to me, it's a really big deal, just doesn't see that 30% of people that used to make resolutions are lapsing on it like that's it, that's a big, big change. And it's got it's just a signal of what must be a lot of other small changes in their lives are going on.
Sarah Marion 28:53
On the other hand, from state of our health, we see that more people over the pandemic have gotten engaged and more engaged, I should say, with nutrition or fitness. So there there has been improvement among, you know, it's mainly millennials, but it's not just them. So a lot of people did take the time to invest and have stuck with it for two years now.
Maggie Bright 29:20
I think that engagement to it changed it's changed right at work, we see this more like holistic engagement with the with health and with fitness and nutrition and whether that translates to wellness or mindfulness or kind of what any of those other areas I think that there's like a we're seeing and Sarah will you'll know the numbers much better than I but like this idea that achieving work life balance is going up in terms of priorities and you know, so it's interesting to see how there has there does seem to be this fundamental shift in like, I do need to take care of myself or, you know, invest in other areas of my life beyond just work and Finance and things like that. So I think that like the the benefit that we hope to get from resolutions may be happening, like you said, Sarah, without the resolution, which is very promising.
Chuck Murphy 30:13
Right that and that is, so next year is going to be pretty fascinating. Which would you guys be willing to take a gander at? Well, you think that percent will be next year?
Maggie Bright 30:20
42.
Chuck Murphy 30:22
Oh, third recovery. All right, what do you think, sir?
Sarah Marion 30:25
Hmm. I'll go lower than Maggie. I'll say 37.
Maggie Bright 30:31
Now we've now we've contradicted ourselves, Sarah.
Sarah Marion 30:34
I know, I know. I'm not sure so because I don't know what will happen. And if there even if we get this, even if there's no more like variants that come along, there will still be another wave of COVID. That happens next winter when the flu happens to and, and I just don't know what that's gonna look like.
Chuck Murphy 30:59
I'm gonna go to the top of old view and take us back to 2020 levels. I'm going to say back to Okay, I'm going to go bullish on this, I think, I don't know. I just, I just think that, uh, there was something about this, I think it's just the speed of it. But I think there was something about this. I could never say that word correctly on Omicron, or whatever ways, wave that caught people by surprise. And I think that that really impacted things. But I kind of think the, I do think even though this is like, was said way too often at the beginning of it, I do think eventually we are going to have to learn to make this more like the flu, where it's going to come people are going to get sick. And I think that obviously for the unvaccinated people. It's not that but for the vaccinated people, it is kind of that now. So it's kind of I think that we will those people, like your earlier point said they do they want to go out they want to go places like everyone, do you see that in the travel searches and all that there's all this data that people are feeling pent up. So I kind of think that they'll get back to it. But I that may be I can see myself being a little bit too bullish on that call. But 37 sounds is too low to me. And Maggie, you said
Maggie Bright 32:08
42 is the perfect number
Chuck Murphy 32:10
42. That's not much of recovery. Only a third of people coming back like
Maggie Bright 32:17
I think this year, I mean, I think it it takes grief is a long process, it's gonna take a while for people to feel certain again, and to not to sort of re establish routines, and I don't think there'll be the same routines, right? There's a whole idea of like, back to normal doesn't exist anymore, right? It's whatever the new reality is. And I think it just I think that just takes time, there's sort of like a, I don't think it'll happen in the next 11 months.
Chuck Murphy 32:49
But it's funny. I actually have two thoughts that are completely unrelated. I was just trying to watch the spirit. But when you when Sarah was talking about how people are going, they're more engaged with nutrition and they are working out. I can't tell you how many people just I live in Los Angeles. For those of you that don't know, I can't tell you how many conversations I've been with Los Angeles, where people explained to me how much of their daily life they've gotten back because of traffic, which obviously if you're someone that started working remotely that that number is regularly people tell me they've gotten two hours day back, but even people that do commute to a job, talk about how much less traffic there is now much faster that commute is now what used to be an hour, it's down to like 25 minutes for a lot of people and how that opens up many for many people, the conversation goes to it. So I've worked out more now are able to get my so in terms of fitness quickly. So it'll be interesting to see kind of if that. If that continues. But the other one other thing I was gonna say that's completely unrelated. And I'm just like, the other side of that coin is, I can't believe how many people are telling me that they really miss things that used to that were a break at first, like one thing people really talk about is like watercooler conversations at the office, right? Or, you know, like the quietness, even if they go to an office, there's not as many people there and they they really miss those conversations. So it'll be I have no idea how this is all gonna play out. And I know both of those are contradictory statements. But I think that that is the tension a lot of people are living with, right? Like, if you say, what is the new normal, do they? They don't really want to go back to the way it was, but they're not quite they do want some of that.
Maggie Bright 34:22
And and I think that's the bottom line that there's all these tensions at play, you have to figure out, like, which tension or went out? Is it going to be uncertainty control? You know, like, I went time back versus connection, you know, I don't I don't, I wonder if there's going to be like this. I always think about this with work travel. Like, you know, prior to COVID. We didn't you know, I traveled a lot, probably one to two times a month, at least all year long. And I haven't been on a business trip in two years, right. And I'm just waiting for like the first person to start traveling and then I think it'll like quickly ramp up and we'll all be traveling. And so I wonder if There are other things like that, like, will it become like one person goes back to the office? And then everyone goes or, you know, I think it'll be interesting to see. And I think a lot of things will happen like that, you know, like, one person starts getting in shape, we all decide we need to, and obviously, it won't be that dramatic, but I do think some, some more trends will start, as you know, they'll speed up once, you know, sort of a critical mass starts doing them again.
Sarah Marion 35:28
That's what I think there's the the Critical Mass is the important part, I actually spoke with a class at UCLA, it was like an undergraduate class of careers for anthropologists. And it was their first day going hybrid. So half people were in class, and half the people were online, and I think, and, you know, we're, we're all remote, but my husband, also there's this hybrid work environment. And so when there's a lot of people in the office, that you can see, when you're on Zoom. You feel jealous, you want to be there with all those people, what are they doing? What are they talking about? And so once you start seeing that more and more, that's when people are going to go back? So yeah, but if it's just one person that's lonely and weird, but once it gets to be 5, 6, 7, and I don't know what that critical math is, it's probably different for every office for every gym. But But yeah, once you start hearing that everybody else is doing it, that's when it starts to feel okay to do because safety is a feeling.
Chuck Murphy 36:31
Well, thankfully, we're not in real estate and having to make those decisions, right, don't you, we really, as a market researchers got pretty lucky in this whole thing. I will just say to echo Maggie side, I really miss business trips too which I never thought I would say that in the first the first six months, I got a break for them, it was so magical. And now I'm kind of like, oh my going to see clients and seeing how they're doing and just having some place to go. Anyhow, any
Maggie Bright 36:55
Maybe your resolution should be more business trips, and then that way we can fulfill that.
Chuck Murphy 36:59
Exactly. At any final thoughts on resolutions, or anything else you think we should circle back on before we close this out?
Maggie Bright 37:08
I am just fascinated to see what will happen next year. And I'm fascinated to see how the young adults if they continue to sort of double down on resolutions, or if that was was more of a reaction to to the current environment. So I think it'll be really interesting to see, you know, what was kind of a pretty level trend. Right, took this huge dip and it'll be really interesting to see what happens.
Sarah Marion 37:34
Yeah, I agree. Um, the, like, especially young adults, who are the most likely to make resolutions, I feel like their lives have been up ended in a way that is difficult for us to even understand as older. You know, we have established careers.
Maggie Bright 37:49
We're not young adults anymore.
Sarah Marion 37:51
We're not sorry. But then at the same time, how, how are they gonna come back when they've never known what a you know, quote unquote, normal young adult life is in the first place?
Chuck Murphy 38:12
Yeah. Well, we know the key to getting young adults to make resolutions next years, we just need the right tick tock influencer to to make a video about it during the right two week period beforehand. And we'll be there we'll get we'll get it up.
Maggie Bright 38:25
I like Sarah's idea, like, let's move New Year's resolutions to April. It solves a lot of issues. I think we should push for that.
Chuck Murphy 38:32
It's actually really, really smart. There are something to that, like the spring is rebirth, no question about it. Just do your taxes and make resolutions for the next year on April 15. Is that...
Maggie Bright 38:43
Right? Or maybe you make your resolutions when you get your refund or something like that?
Sarah Marion 38:47
You should probably make it before you get the refund.
Maggie Bright 38:50
That's true.
Sarah Marion 38:51
Spend it wisely.
Maggie Bright 38:52
Right. And if you don't get a refund
Chuck Murphy 38:58
Ok you guys thank you very much. This was fun recording. Talk to you next week. Thank you