Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work And What Actually Does

Last week of December… the week of hyping ourselves up, motivating ourselves for big goals, buying new year journals, and writing down resolutions. If you open your social media today, I’m quite certain you’ll get bombarded with New Year posts. I am too.

One of the posts I saw a couple of days ago showed this image:

2009 will be my year

2010 will be my year

2011 will be my year

(...) will be my year

2024 will be my year

2025 will be my year

2026 will be my year

You get the point.

At the end of every year, many of us feel the pressure to set big resolutions and promise ourselves that the next year will finally be “our year", but most of those resolutions fade within weeks.

In this post, I want to share why that happens, why the “New Year, New Me” mindset doesn’t lead to real change, and what actually works when it comes to habits, lifestyle, and long-term progress.

The Problem With “New Year, New Me”

Why did this particular post capture my attention among the avalanche of cheesy motivational quotes and aspirational posts?

Because that used to be me.

Years ago, sure, but I still remember vividly when I was pumped to get a “clean slate”. My New Year carte blanche. A chance to start anew and make this year the best year of my life.

Then I realised that this approach was misguided and simply wrong. Why? Because most New Year’s resolutions run entirely on short-term motivation. The hype. The “New Year, New Me” approach.

We plan to stop drinking, we plan to start hitting the gym regularly, we plan to eat better and make healthier choices. But these aren’t even plans, they’re wishlists.

We might as well send them to Santa in December and wait for the 1st of Jan to unpack those imaginary gifts. Because they’re never coming. And if they do, they’re short-lived, not sustainable, and eventually become chores — not habits we enjoy.

Why New Year's Resolutions Fail

New habits fade quickly because we try to fit them into a lifestyle that doesn’t support them.

We don’t have systems to maintain those habits. We try to change too much, too fast, and expect results too soon.

And New Year’s resolutions miss one very important point: there is no such thing as “new year — new me”. And there shouldn’t be.

Why do we try to isolate that new year from all the years we’ve lived through? Those years made us who we are. They got us this far. So why do we keep trying to discredit them and get rid of them, as if we’re trying to start our lives from zero?

Even if this year WILL BE your year, it won’t be because of some magic wand from the universe. It will be because of the compounded effect of all the previous years.

You want to “make it big”? Get rich? Get famous? Improve your health? Whatever your goal is, it does not happen overnight.

You will make it big not because of this year (unless you win the lottery), but because of all the previous years and the combined effect of your efforts.

A Better Approach: Zoom Out First

So what do I do now, and what do I think works better than repeating the same resolutions every January?

First of all, I don’t make lists anymore. Not of my New Year goals — or New Year wishes, as I prefer to call them. Instead, I look back at my recent years and try to understand what worked and what didn’t. What I was happy with, and what I would like to change. I zoom out and look at the big picture first.

Then I look into the future and ask myself: where would I like to be? Five years, ten years, or even one year ahead, whatever timeline makes sense.

After defining my bigger vision, I break those years into yearly focus areas and work backwards to see what matters each year.

Now I have a clear picture of what my next year will look like and where I want to be at the end of it. And it becomes much easier to break it down into smaller steps, behaviour-based goals, and habits.

Apply It to Your Goals

If you want to use a similar method, just remember that you need to break your big goal down into the smallest pieces — and then start with just one. Yes, one.

If you’d like to lose weight, for example, you can’t just plan to “start working out and eating healthier”. That’s too vague and involves too many things.

Let me break it down for you.

For the sake of example, let’s imagine a target number. It doesn’t have to be exact, because progress is rarely linear and everyone’s body responds differently.

In general, sustainable weight loss often averages up to around 0.5–1 kg per week — but life isn’t a spreadsheet. Holidays, stress, slow starts, and plateaus all happen, and that’s normal. To keep things realistic (and simple for this illustration), let’s round it to roughly 3 kg across a month on average. So if you stayed consistent for 12 months, that could theoretically add up to around 36 kg over a year. That sounds like a lot, right?

But the real question is: How do you actually make it through those 12 months without burning out or quitting? That’s the key.

Build Habits That Actually Stick

There are many ways to build healthy habits, but here are five principles that, in my opinion, are essential:

Pick only one habit.

It’s not easy, I get it. I am an impatient person myself, and I want to go cold turkey and change my life all at once sometimes. But I’ve tried that before. Trust me, it does not work.

Make sure the habit is behaviour-oriented, not goal-oriented.

“I want to lose weight” is a great goal, but you can’t directly control it. What you can control are your behaviours. For example: “I will stop eating refined sugars.” That is something you can track, monitor, and practice — and it leads to weight loss.

Make sure the habit is super small and easy to do.

If your goal is weight loss, you can get there in many ways... working out more, eating better, sleeping better, etc. So pick the easiest habit to change right now, and build on that. If you currently eat sugar every day with every meal, don’t try to stop all of it at once. Pick one meal or one situation and start there. For example, instead of a whipped-cream-caramel-chocolate-mocha for breakfast, choose a latte or cappuccino. Then, after a while, try swapping to black coffee.

Track your habits.

Not calories, macros, or a million numbers you can’t even understand. Use a simple app or even a piece of paper to see how you’re doing — and give yourself time. Once this habit becomes natural, move on to the next one.

Plan for real life.

Following the previous example, if you do want to cut refined sugar consumption, you don’t want to stop eating it FOREVER — that’s not the goal. If you cut it out completely, you’ll start again in a couple of weeks. The key is to change your behaviour and relationship with it. Look for healthier options you actually like and can enjoy most of the time. Once in a while, we all like to indulge in a Cinnabon or some chocolate, but as long as it’s not a regular thing, there is nothing wrong with it.

Small Habits Beat Big Resolutions

To sum it up: New Year’s resolutions don’t work because they are houses of cards with no foundations and no systems in place.

So for the upcoming 2026, zoom out. Look back at what built you up, what broke you down, and what you’ve learned.

Then look ahead and ask yourself where you want to be, and let all your years of experience support that future.

And if you want to change your habits for better ones, take it one small step at a time. Because small things combined will shape your life far more than one big thing you plan and never do or give up too soon.

🥂 to a different New Year!

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