MINNEAPOLIS — Like many traditions, New Year's resolutions have a long history.
It's believed to have started about 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon during a massive 12-day festival in March. They celebrated the New Year in March to coincide with the crops being planted.
The Babylonians made promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrowed.
Then the Romans tinkered with the calendar and moved the beginning of the year to January - named for the god Janus, who stands for learning from the past and looking towards the future.
Despite the tradition's roots of making promises to the gods, resolutions today mainly focus on self-improvement - which may be the reason they're easier to not follow through with.
According to recent research, 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year's resolutions, but only 8 percent actually keep them.
More from KARE 11 Sunrise: