How to Make (and Not Break) Resolutions

By: Gabriela Murza, MS, MCHES®,
Professional Practice Extension Assistant Professor of Health and Wellness/HEART Initiative
USU Extension Utah County

woman stretching

If you are like the 44% of adults in the US, you probably make a new year’s resolution each year (Marist Poll, 2018). About half of the resolutions made are health-focused, such as eating healthy, losing weight, being active, and quitting smoking (Bakken, 2014). Resolutions are goals that help us focus on an aspect that we want to improve, and setting it at the start of a new year is considered a kind of milestone (Dai, Milkman, & Riis, 2014) So why do most of us end up not seeing our resolution through?

Below are some reasons that can affect the success of achieving a goal, and what we can do to help counteract them:

It wasn't specific enough

“Be more active” is a good goal, but there are some unknowns. For example, how will you be active? When, where, and how often? What happens if you can’t be active due to poor weather or health? How long do you want to work on your goal? The more specific a goal, the more likely you are to stick to it.

Create a SMART Goal.

Make it Specific (ex: I will walk 1 mile a day, 4 days a week); Measurable (ex: I will track my walking using a phone app or journal); Action-Oriented (ex: I will buy comfortable walking shoes and workout attire and keep my shoes and clothes on/near my nightstand); Realistic (ex: I know I can walk one mile without hurting my knees); and Time-Specific (ex: I will check in on my progress each month with an end goal of July 1st).

Didn't consider barriers

Whether it was the weather, traffic, poor health, busy schedules, or not feeling motivated, barriers are inevitable. Have a plan ahead of time.

Look ahead for potential barriers

Take a day or two each week and look ahead in your schedule for things that may come up. Do you have a deadline coming up or an important event? Does the weather look potentially bad on certain days? Write these down and create a few alternative options. For example, if you can’t walk outside due to rain, you can try an online walking program at home.

Not being ready

Do you ever feel like you created a goal but your heart wasn’t in it? It might be because you weren’t ready to work on that particular goal. We can be at different stages when it comes to setting goals, and some may be more achievable at a particular time (Norcross, Mrykalo, & Blagys, 2002).

Check in with yourself

Write your goal down along with pros and cons, weigh each one (1-10) with how important you think it is to you, add up each score, and then use a “gut” test – despite seeing the numbers, ask yourself, “will I actually do this goal?” (Science Daily, 2015).

How you approached your goal

A recent study found that those with approach-oriented goals were more successful than those with avoidance-oriented goals (Oscarsson, Carlbring, Andersson, & Rozental, 2020).

Reframe your goal

When making a goal, consider framing it in a positive way rather than a negative. For example, make the goal something you want to do or gain rather than something you want to take away or lose. Instead of “eat less junk food”, choose to “eat more fruits and vegetables”.


Try one of these approaches and see which works best for you. The best part is: you don’t have to wait until the new year to set a resolution!

References:

  • Bakken, J. (2014). Readiness to change is a vital facet to committing to New Year’s resolutions. UAB News. Retrieved at: https://www.uab.edu/news/youcanuse/item/5619-readiness-to-change-is-a-vital-facet-to-committing-to-new-year-s-resolutions
  • Dai, H., Milkman, K., & Riis, J. (2014). The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior. Management Science. 60(10); 2563-2582. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901
  • Marist Poll (2018). NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll National Survey Results & Analysis: 2019 & New Year’s Resolutions. Retrieved at: http://maristpoll.marist.edu/npr-pbs-newshour-marist-poll-national-survey-results-analysis-2019-new-years-resolutions/
  • Norcross, J., Mrykalo, M., & Blagys, M. (2002). Auld lang Syne: Success predictors, change processes, and self‐reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 58(4); 397-405.
  • Oscarsson, M., Carlbring, P., Andersson, G., & Rozental, A. (2020). A large-scale experiment on New Year’s resolutions: Approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals. 15(12): e0234097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234097
  • Washington State University (2015). To bolster a new year's resolution, ask, don't tell: Study finds that questioning influences behavior. ScienceDaily. Retrieved at: sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151228124712.htm