Why does the author include statistics about gym memberships and quitting rates? 
using the article Your goal might be set in stone, but how you achieve it shouldn't be." By Jon Haworth, ABC News

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Short answer: to show the problem is common and concrete, and so justify the article’s advice.

Why that matters (briefly):
- Gives scale and relevance — readers recognize that many people set fitness goals but stop going to the gym, so the topic feels important and worth fixing.
- Provides concrete evidence to support the author’s claim that goal pursuit often fails when people use the same rigid approach.
- Makes the argument more persuasive and credible (logos/ethos) by backing general claims with data rather than just opinion.
- Creates an emotional hook (pathos): seeing high quit rates makes readers care and pay attention to alternative strategies.
- Supplies a familiar, relatable example that illustrates the broader point about flexibility in how goals are pursued.

If you need a one‑sentence answer for an essay: “The author includes gym‑membership and quitting statistics to demonstrate that the problem of abandoning goals is widespread and to lend evidence and urgency to the argument that people should be flexible about how they pursue their goals.”