--- title: Five Best Ideas: New Year's Resolutions, Failure and Trump description: Your new year’s resolutions are setting you up for failure, read your Nietzsche to understand populist phenomena and more. canonical: https://time.com/4620529/your-new-years-resolutions-are-setting-you-up-for-failure/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-03T17:00:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:59:12.557Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Your New Year's Resolutions Are Setting You Up For Failure og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/4620529/your-new-years-resolutions-are-setting-you-up-for-failure/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Your New Year's Resolutions Are Setting You Up For Failure twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Your New Year's Resolutions Are Setting You Up For Failure by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 3, 2017 5:00 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Jan 3, 2017 5:00 PM UTC **1\.** [**Your new year’s resolutions are setting you up for failure.**](http://www.businessinsider.com/amy-cuddy-explains-the-dangers-of-new-years-resolutions-2016-12) By Richard Feloni in Business Insider **2\.** [**To understand Trump, Brexit and other populist phenomena, read your Nietzsche.**](http://www.vox.com/conversations/2016/12/20/13927678/donald-trump-brexit-nietzsche-democracy-europe-populism-hugo-drochon) By Sean Illing in Vox **3\.** [**This is how Google, Amazon and Facebook will take on big telecom companies—and why it matters to you.**](https://www.wired.com/2016/12/the-end-of-telcos/) By Klint Finley in _Wired_ **4\.** [**If you enjoyed a big Christmas feast this holiday break, thank Charles Dickens.**](http://daily.jstor.org/dickens-set-american-christmas-dinner-table/) By Ellen C. Caldwell in JSTOR Daily **5\.** [**Here’s a roadmap for ending short-term thinking in American business.**](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/12/short-term-thinking/511874/) By Alana Semuels in _The Atlantic_  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4620529/your-new-years-resolutions-are-setting-you-up-for-failure/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4620529/your-new-years-resolutions-are-setting-you-up-for-failure/"},"headline":"Your New Year's Resolutions Are Setting You Up For Failure","datePublished":"2017-01-03T17:00:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:59:12.557Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/4620529/your-new-years-resolutions-are-setting-you-up-for-failure/","keywords":["Innovation","Telecommunications","christmas","New Year's Resolutions","populism","Business"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4620529/your-new-years-resolutions-are-setting-you-up-for-failure/","name":"Your New Year's Resolutions Are Setting You Up For Failure"}}]}] ```