January 1st. The ball drop, New Year, and a fresh start for everyone, no matter your background or past decisions. Not to mention the annual tradition of a resolution you plan to keep for the entire new year. Also called a New Years resolution, this idea dates back to over 4000 years ago, when the Ancient Babylonians became the first recorded people to set new year resolutions (Funny enough they were also the first civilization to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year). While it may seem fun for most people to set an amazing, hard to achieve goal and spend the new year chasing it, others see it as a depressant, thinking back months ago when they made all these plans on getting healthy and committed to none of them. Of course you can set a simpler one, but many people have tried this, achieved it, and wondered what if they made their previous goal just a bit harder, where they would be today. Others bounce off the small goal and keep going, setting new goals throughout the year and gain knowledge, muscle, and more. Dr. Adam Morris from Harvard had this exact inquiry, and ran a simple study on it. 100 random test subjects were offered 2 choices to win money, throw a football through a target from 10 feet away for $20, or have a Professional QB throw it for you to win $10. While 72 took the sure bet with the QB throwing for them, only 40 out of the 72 ended up going home 10 dollars richer. A quick post decision survey had a surprising 60 out of the 72 regretting their decision, saying even though they might have won or lost, they would have felt better making the throw themselves. Out of the Remaining 28 that made the throw themselves, 24 of them feel they made the right decision, even though only 8 out of the 28 went home successful. They felt proud of taking the initiative of doing it themselves, and having the guts to take the risk even though a professional QB was available. From his findings, Scientists have discovered that a slightly unreachable goal, such as running 2 miles a day instead of 1, can motivate the brain to chase the goal, and even if left unachieved, the brain sends endorphins for the attempt, and can rebuild for the next attempt to reach it. Overall, the average person is better off aiming for a high goal and missing it than achieving a small goal, due to another highly studied human effect, regret. So this year when you're creating those goals, be a bit more confident, go for that extra mile. As Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars!”