New Years is only a few days away, and it’s likely we’re all thinking of new goals that we want to achieve in 2025. But whether it involves writing a new journal entry once a week, going to the gym more often, or improving your grades, it’s well-known that New Years Resolutions are difficult to stick to.
Like everyone else, I found it incredibly difficult to stick to my Resolution. Until a few years ago, most of my Resolutions were forgotten in the second week of January. So I did a little more research into setting and reaching goals, and seeing as I reached my New Years Resolution in 2024 quite easily, I think I cracked the code to making and keeping a good goal.
Without further ado, here are my 3 Steps to a Perfect New Years Resolution.
1. How is it?
It’s quite easy to say what you want to achieve. A few common ones might include:
- maintaining grades above 95%
- reaching a certain weight/muscle mass/body fat percentage
- getting a job/making more money
- learning a new skill/hobby
- getting organized
What we want to do is easy. But we tend to neglect how these things happen. It’s great to visualize these results, but we also need to remember that these results won’t be what we’re doing: instead, it’s the process. So shift your goal from achieving a final result into looking at the process instead.
For example, if your resolution is to get and maintain higher grades, think about creating better study habits. How will you change the way you study? If you want to get fit, think about how you can exercise and eat differently. What does your workout routine look like? If you want a job, think about how your resume could be sent out and restructured better. What kind of things can you do to improve your resume?
Goals are nothing without processes.
2. When is it?
Now that you’ve got a process, it’s time to make things a little more specific. When figuring out the “when” of a process, there’s two things to keep in mind:
- Make it specific
- Leave room for error
Specificity
In terms of making your goal specific, you should look at the repetition of your process. Is it a daily habit? Weekly? Monthly? Regardless of whichever it is, try to narrow it down even further. What time of day? What day of the week? What day of the month?
Narrowing it down to a specific time can help you fall into the habit of performing your process. It makes sticking to the Resolution more habitual and easier to repeat because you know specifically when to do it. It also destroys all procrastination.
For example, if your goal is to study for better grades, narrow it down to a certain time. “I will study daily at 6PM” holds you more accountable than “I will study more.” Or if you want to get and keep a job, “I will send out my resume to 3 different employers on Friday afternoons” holds you more accountable than “I will send out my resume to more people.”
Flexibility
Having talked about the importance of goal specificity, it’s also imperative to mention why you need to leave room for error. Life happens, sometimes you’re hosting a surprise party for your best friend, and sometimes you may be feeling sick. Expecting the year to turn out perfectly and exactly as planned is unrealistic.
So plan for error. If you don’t give yourself a little wiggle room, you’re likely going to give up completely after making a mistake or skipping a day.
How do we do that? Simply append the dependent clause “most of the time” to the end of your resolutions.
“I will study daily at 6pm, most of the time.”
“I will go to the gym twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, most of the time.”
“I will begin to crochet a new pattern on the second weekend of the month, most of the time.”
Adding a little room for error helps you stick to your goal even after you miss a day or mess up a few times. Otherwise, you may be tempted to give it all up after messing up once.
3. Where is it?
This step also has two subcategories: the literal and the figurative.
The Literal
Where do you plan on doing this new habit that will lead to your New Years Resolution goal? If you establish a physically designated area in your life to do your new habit, it will make sticking to your habit much easier when you’re in the area.
For example, if you’re trying to go the the gym more often, establish which gym you’re going to. If you’re trying to get a job offer, establish where in your house you will sit and apply to jobs. If you’re trying to study more, where in your house will you do that, or do you intend to go to the library?
Establishing a physical space can help you establish a habit by associating a space with a task. Most of us associate nighttime, beds, and silence with sleeping, so we get sleepy when those conditions are met. We associate pools with swimming, and libraries with reading, so why can’t we associate your new habit with its own unique space?
If you don’t have a new space, then simply make one. Change something about an existing space, and perform your habit so many times in the new space that you associate it with the space.
The Figurative
The figurative part of the “where” portion of New Years Resolutions is where we see the progress. A lot of these resolutions are measured by reaching the end result. But as mentioned earlier, the process is how we get to the result. The process is also what we’ll spend the most time doing, and if we spend a lot of time doing something but we see no progress, it’s likely we’ll get discouraged. That’s when a lot of people stop.
How can you track your progress if the end goal is your idea of success? Well, we have to change how we measure success.
So instead of measuring success as whether you finally got that beautiful six pack at the end of 2025, measure how many days you spent at the gym working out. Instead of measuring success as the percent on your transcript or report card, measure it in terms of individual grades or the hours you spent studying for something.
You’ll be more likely to continue with a goal when you see your tiny victories, instead of constantly waiting for the end goal. So set a way to track where your progress is. Here are a few ideas:
- mark up a calendar
- use a goal tracker
- set a reminder
- fill up a paper thermometer model
TL;DR
New Years Resolutions are tough to keep, unless you know how to keep them. Lucky for you, it’s quite easy once you do know how. So here’s the only 3 steps you’ll need to create a perfect Resolution for 2025:
- How will it happen?
- When will it happen?
- both specifically
- and flexibly
- Where will it happen?
- both literally
- and figuratively