WRITTEN BY: Jennifer Strout, Founder of MotivateU If you set a New Year’s resolution in 2025 then you’re in good company. Over 3 billion people set out to establish a new habit at the start of each year. But did you know that if you’re still keeping up with your commitment past the first week then you’re in good company? Norcross et al. found that 77% of people are still hitting their mark by week two. So how do you become one of those people if you aren’t? And if you are, how do you make it to the top 19% who keep up their new habits for over 2 years? Well first things first, if you’ve already broken your New Year’s resolution, don’t fret! There’s nothing to say that you can’t pick up where you left off, as it’s common to experience a lapse, so there’s certainly no reason to wait until next year. So let’s discuss how to set yourself up for continued success so you can conquer your goals this year! I like to approach setting goals similar to other types of problem solving. For example, the same methodology used for cooking from a recipe or solving a math equation can be applied to other areas of our lives. In this way, every action taken is a series of smaller actions put together, and laying out each step is key to success. As children, we were taught this method of approaching new or complex tasks, but as adults, we often forget how much went into learning all that we know. So, how do we effectively achieve our goals? First, if you haven’t done so already, break your New Year's resolutions into small, incremental goals. Set a goal post for each month and make a list of resources to help you achieve those goals. Here's a breakdown: Step 1: Determine your core goal. For example, say you want to exercise more. Don’t forget to be specific: walk for 150 minutes per week and stretch for 70 minutes per week. Step 2: Break your goal into monthly steps. Here’s where most people go off the rails, causing them to quit not long after they started. If you are beginning with no exercise routine and you set yourself up to complete 220 minutes of combined exercise on week one- you’re likely going to get overwhelmed and quit. So how do we make this work? The key is to start off gradually and sneak it in, again think of how a child approaches a new task- little by little. So if your goal each week is to walk for 150 minutes and stretch for 70 minutes then you may choose to begin simply by stretching for 5 minutes each morning for the month of January. You have to admit that it will be pretty tough to argue your way out of not being able to complete that goal. As you build more confidence and see how simple it is then come February you can add an additional 5 minutes of stretching before bed. Now as spring approaches, you find a little swing in your step so starting in March you add a 15 minute walk once per week. By July, you’re completing a 15 minute walk 5 times per week, adding another day each month. By August, you choose to extend one of your walks to a 30 minute walk. And by December, you’re not only continuing your daily stretching routine, you’re also completing a 30 minute walk 5 times per week. Now two thoughts may come to mind, one being, ‘well, that doesn’t sound like enough’ and the other being, ‘can’t I get to my goal any faster?’. My response to the first question is that your goals should be reflective of where you are today with a focus on improvement. If your goal is to walk 150 minutes every week do you think you’ll be happier come 2026 if you’re still hitting your goal or if you had a good go of it just for the month of January. Building new habits requires a strong foundation, one that can continue to be built upon with each new year. As for the second question, you’ve probably noticed that I answered it in part through the previous response. While you can try to shortcut building new habits, at the end of the day the brain is very predictable in how it responds to the perception of insurmountable goals, and that is very much like a stubborn toddler. So let’s use what the research shows us about human nature to leverage a plan for success. Step 3: Put resources in place. As many of us know when stress hits, often the good habits are the first to get crossed off our list. We often make excuses to drop self-care or other priorities in order to push through. But at the end of the day, continuing with the goals we set for ourselves is the most likely way to continue to fuel the energy we need to be successful in all areas of our lives. The resources that you’ll need to meet your goals with vary based on what they are but two universal tips are accountability and reminders. The science behind telling others your goal is interesting because for a long time it was thought that sharing your goals with others made you more likely to achieve them. But then some data started coming back contradicting that. As it became easier to share information with more people the outcomes began to shift. Researchers were able to tease out the difference between those who shared their goals with success and those who shared their goals but with a result of failure. In the case of failure, people shared their goals widely and with anyone and everyone. In this case, the person sharing often received praise and positive feedback despite not having achieved the goal yet. This feedback served to meet some of the reward centers in the brain and actually tricked the brain into thinking that the goal had been achieved in a sense, and so no further action was needed. Obviously this was not the case, but we can all think of many scenarios when we’ve witnessed this or even experienced it ourselves. Okay, so how do we engage in effective sharing and accountability? So the key is to share with those who are at or above the same level as us. Sure, but what does that mean? So in a broad sense that means sharing your goals with those peers who you admire or are more accomplished than you. More specifically, related to the goal of exercise you may choose to share your goal with your neighbor who inspired you as you saw them walk past your window every morning. But also, you may share with your colleagues at work who are accomplished in their careers and with whom you have regular contact. These specific people are connected to you in ways that make them more likely to check in with you to see how you’re progressing, but also who you may feel some shame if you have to share that you are not making progress. Your neighbor may provide you with tips related to exercise, whereas your colleagues may be able to relate to you in terms of other strengths that they’ve seen you exhibit for work and connect those to how you may succeed in this instance. Overall, just as you want to set specific goals, you want to consider specific people with whom to share them. Finally, you need to set yourself up for success by taking some accountability on your own. For example, if you want to start walking every week do you have a pair of good shoes? If you start your first week off with a blister than you may find yourself with an excuse not to continue. Additionally, if you want to stretch before work you need to make sure to allot additional time by setting your alarm earlier so that you aren’t late to work. Basically, you want to ensure that you aren’t giving your future self a list of excuses to quit before you even get started.
So now that you have the recipe for success, it’s up to you to take the next step. You’ve already taken the first step by reading this article. Achieving your goals can be as simple as following a recipe; just remember, every action is a series of smaller actions put together, and laying out each step is key to success. If you’re still feeling stuck or have further questions, feel free to reach out through our site or leave a comment below. If you need more help to hold you accountable or track your progress, you can check out our goal tracking tools, which include options to share with friends, to participate in community boards, and more, with free options available through our app. And don’t worry if you’ve already had a lapse in your New Year’s resolution, or even if you haven’t gotten started yet. I’ll let you in on a little secret- whether it’s still January when you’re reading this, July, or any month in between, you can always choose today as the first day to take the next step!
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