While many people are acknowledging the fact that they have not kept to their New Year’s Resolutions and may have started to beat themselves up about putting on pounds rather than losing them or spending more money than they are saving, very few have stopped to examine the history of how this tradition came to be.

Making a New Year’s resolution dates back thousands of years, according to Live Science. Although no culture practiced New Year’s quite the same, many celebrated the new year according to a significant agricultural or astronomical event. For instance, Egypt celebrated the new years according to the flooding of the Nile River which occurred during the rise of the star Sirius. While China celebrated the new year after the second new moon after the winter solstice.

The earliest proof of this sort of celebration was first seen among Bablylonians 4,000 years ago. They celebrated New Year’s in March, with a spring harvest festival called Akitu, which lasted for 11 days. Akitu celebrated the mythical victory of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat. It also served an important political purpose: It was during this time that a new king was crowned or that the current ruler’s divine mandate was symbolically renewed. Some special rituals affirmed humanity’s covenant with the gods. The Babylonians believed their continued worship was what kept offspring thriving.

The Roman calendar initially had 10 months and 304 days, beginning the New Years around the vernal equinox. Later, Numa Pompilius, created Januarius and Februaruis, causing the sun to fall out of sync with the calendar. Due to this Roman ruler Julius Caesar shifted the ceremony to January 1st in honor of the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings. Like the Babylonians, the Romans did not set resolutions based on themselves, they sacrificed items for the whole society, according to History.

A desire to start anew pops up repeatedly in western civilizations. Most American’s who make them now focus on self-improvement. People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolution.

Based on research done at University of Scranton in 2015 the top ten New Year’s resolution are:

1. Lose Weight
2. Getting Organized
3. Spend Less, Save More
4. Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5. Staying Fit and Healthy
6. Learn Something Exciting
7. Quit Smoking
8. Help Others in their Dreams
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend More Time with Family

At this point in mid-January, many have already fallen off in keeping their resolutions.  However, one mistake (or a few) shouldn’t keep those who have lost sight of their goals from refocusing and setting their target once again.