New year, new you?

Between last month's glasses of eggnog and piles of latkes, people pledged to eat less and exercise more. While ignoring work and complaining endlessly about their bosses, they resolved to find more satisfying jobs. After spending hundreds of extra dollars on unnecessary holiday gifts, they swore to be more financially responsible.

All those commitments we so fervently rattled off? Well, this morning starts the clock on making good. About 100 million Americans see the new year as a time to resolve, to change, to address the many things they don't like about themselves, according to one national poll. It's another chance to get things right and to put the bad behind; as columnist Bill Vaughan noted, "An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves."

"It's 1/1. It's the beginning," said David Baron, the professor who chairs the psychiatry department at Temple University School of Medicine. "We're telling ourselves, metaphorically, it's going to be a better year."

So it's not unusual that Muriel Fils-Aime, 24, of West Philadelphia, is vowing to lose a few pounds in 2009 (a goal she's had on the books for a few years). Or that her friend, Krystal Thornhill, 22, of Upper Darby, is vowing to finish school and get more satisfying work. According to the Web site www.usa.gov, Americans most commonly pledge to lose weight, manage debt, save money, get better jobs, and get fit.

Of course, resolutions aren't for everyone. Robb Palmer, 42, said a clock striking midnight doesn't inspire a rush to change.

"If I choose to do something, I'll do it when I think of it instead of at the start of the year. Then I'm more successful," said Palmer, of Olney. "As soon as you think of it, you should do it. Then allow yourself to fail and start again."

But the resolution-making lobby is even stronger. The concept of making life-changing goals as the year closes dates back to the ancient Babylonians, who, thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, pledged to make good on old debts and return borrowed farm equipment as each spring dawned. (That's when they marked the beginning of a new year.) It's a concept that's global, said Drexel University sociologist Doug Porpora, no matter which day a culture may acknowledge as the beginning of a new annual cycle.

"Calendars are tied to a larger meaning of the universe," Porpora said. "A new year's festival is generally associated with renewal and creation, a commemoration of the beginning of things, so it's time for a fresh start."

Resolutions also seem to be driven by external factors: As 2007 closed, about half of Americans contacted during a Roper poll said they vowed to be more environmentally friendly. Even though that wasn't their No. 1 goal (Roper also found people were most interested in losing weight for 2008), it's rather telling: By June 2007, Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, had grossed $50 million worldwide, and that fall Gore was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. The environment was - excuse the term - a hot topic.

This year, as the national economic situation worsens, many people, even those who haven't lost their jobs or their savings, may make fiscal pledges as the new year dawns, suspects Christine Nezu, a psychology professor at Drexel University. Alex Epstein, an analyst with the California-based Ayn Rand Institute, also sees monetary concerns trickling down.

"Massive failure often induces people to challenge their overall approach in a way that more subtle failure does not," he said. "Maybe an average person might not be happy with his life, but there's no crisis. But a crisis really forces an examination of how they're doing things."

Peyton Knight, 22, is one of those resolution makers affected by the economy. His goal? Save money so he can afford law school. "I have to pay off my debt," he said. To do that, the Grays Ferry resident said he would eat out less to cut costs and work more to save.

The catch: Knight works as a restaurant server, so if many people share his resolution, his hours on the clock may be for naught.

Such irony also surrounds the 2009 goal for Theresa Poe, 48, of North Philadelphia. Her goal: to keep her job. What's her job? Helping other people find jobs. But her agency has been closing branches in recent weeks.

Cherise Thompson, a 25-year-old nurse who lives in Center City, said her goal for '09 was "to read the Bible daily." She's made resolutions in the past to exercise more and eat more healthfully, and she let them slide. This year, she thinks she's going to follow through.

"I'm at a good point in my life to focus on myself," she said.

Joe Pizzo of South Philadelphia said that for years, he had the same resolutions: To lose weight and eat more healthfully. This year, the 64-year-old has a slightly different goal: to be in good health. It's significant, considering he recently fought cancer.

"I've been working on [weight and good eating] for 25 years," he said. "I'll leave them off the list because I figure if I have good health, I don't need anything else."

His need to push on, he said, isn't selfish. It's for the 7-year-old twins he and his wife adopted a few years ago.

"If we can get another 15 years and get them into their early 20s, then whatever God wants, let it be," Pizzo said.

No matter what resolutions people make, they need to be prepared for setbacks. And they should be ready to move on from them.

"The real hallmark of successful resolutions is flexibility and being realistic," Nezu said. "Think of someone who is out of work because of the economy. If they try to do the same thing they've always done, their opportunities are more limited than if they said, 'I'm going to really look at my skills and think of a way I can do something meaningful and think of this as a time to regroup and be a way I want to be.'"

Baron said people need to restructure: realize that if you're a two-pack-a-day smoker, going cold turkey will be very difficult. If you want to work out every day and falter after two weeks, don't give up. Change your thinking.

"Look at the minor successes instead of 'I didn't do it at all, so I failed,' " Baron said. "Take steps. Make sure your resolution is a realistic one. And if you break your resolution, don't get down on yourself."