Failing New Year’s resolutions is a cherished tradition. People come up with lofty, vague plans like “learn a language” or “lose weight.” They spend the holidays gorging on rich foods, then hit January tired, bloated, and back at work. Most people make a half-hearted effort for a week, then fall back on old routines by “Quitter’s Day.”
In my case, 2025 isn’t over, but I’ve completed (or will complete) 32 of my 40 resolutions for the year. I wish I could have done more; I never got far with my goals for cycling, push-ups, and novel writing. But resolutions aren’t some impossible challenge.
The five ways to make your New Year’s resolutions successful
1. Make resolutions for things you already do
There’s a reason why you haven’t already started volunteering, lost weight, or learned to knit. We have finite time and mental energy outside of our 9-to-5s, and working new things into your schedule means sacrificing other things.
Before you make ambitious new plans for 2026, start by creating resolutions that fit within your current, established routine and hobbies, only slightly different or harder. That way, you’re primed for success, and as you log these completed goals, you’ll then be motivated to track and try your more challenging resolutions.
- If you read 20 books in 2025, aim to read 25 books this year, or 20 but with five in a new genre.
- If you’re a runner, try running more miles, hit a new race PR, do X more track or trail workouts, or go to X running club or race events.
- Cooks and bakers could try one new recipe a month, or side dishes that pair with favorite meals.
- If you commute every day, commit to more books, podcasts, or journaling for at least one leg of the trip.
2. Break down resolutions into monthly goals
Let’s say you want to walk 10,000 steps a day in 2026, or work out more; how do you keep yourself accountable? It only takes one bad week to fall off your routine, and then you have no reason to keep trying because you’ve already failed.
Instead, break your resolutions down by month. Split them out so you can make up for lost ground if you start to fall short, or monitor your progress toward a long-term goal.
Here’s one example: Instead of “Three gym visits per week,” make it “twelve times per month.” Compensate for missed days by going more often the following week. If you only go six times in January, that’s no excuse to stop; you can aim for eight visits in February, then ten in March.
The eventual goal is to build a consistent routine, but changing your lifestyle is a struggle, and building in for failed days or weeks makes you less likely to give up entirely.
- Want to walk 10,000 steps per day? That means 300,000 steps total, so you’ll have to build in days where you walk more than 10,000 steps, like on weekends, to compensate for days you slack off.
- For vaguer goals like “Drink less alcohol,” add each night of drinking to your monthly total. By January’s end, if you drank 10 times, that’s your baseline, with the goal to decrease that number in subsequent months.
- Similarly, if you want to “lose weight,” logging your last weigh-in every month lets you see how you’re progressing, or if you’re backsliding.
3. Give yourself stretch and backup goals
Whatever your goals are for 2026, give yourself easier backup goals in case you’re overly ambitious and stretch goals for if you surpass your own expectations.
The screenshot above shows my 8K steps/day resolution. Some months, I really slacked off, but because I had the lower 6K and 7K targets, I still had motivation to go out near the end of the month instead of giving up entirely. Other months, I kept pushing after hitting the 240K total, because I could hit a higher goal.
- Want to read more? Maybe 5 books per month is your target, but let yourself aim for 2 (bronze) or 3 (silver) for the months where you don’t read for three weeks and need some motivation to finish the month strong.
- Want to do gym or HIIT workouts 10 times per month? Your monthly goals could be to hit five workouts (bronze), eight (silver), ten (gold), and twelve (stretch).
- Want to lose weight? Your bronze goal could simply be to maintain your current weight, which is something to celebrate!
4. Give yourself accountability…and a vision
New Year’s resolutions require work toward self-improvement, and work can be hard and monotonous. By the time you hit spring, aiming to hit arbitrary goalposts will get boring, and you’ll start to slack off if you let yourself. You need to find a north star, a concrete goal to work toward.
In my case, I signed up for a marathon, which gave me months of motivation to run or walk on weekdays, even when I was exhausted from work. I knew the alternative was having a horrible time during the race and wasting my flight and hotel money, so I didn’t let myself off the hook; I even started hitting my stretch resolutions.
To go with your monthly self-perfection resolutions, commit to specific events that mesh with those goals and make lifestyle changes fun instead of onerous.
- Want to hit the gym more? Sign up for Spartan Racing or HYROX, competitive events that give you a concrete reason to train specific muscles: beating your fellow athletes.
- Want to cook or bake more recipes? Maybe you sign up for a class that does the hard parts (finding ingredients and recipes) for you, or even a cooking competition.
- Want to be better about cleaning or fixing up the house? Create a point system for each scrubbed toilet, weeded garden, or fixed floorboard. Then choose rewards you must redeem points for, like 50 points for movie tickets or 500 points for concert or sporting tickets.
5. Start planning (and doing) your New Year’s resolutions now
If you go into January 1 with vague hopes of self-improvement, you’re probably going to fail. You need to build a resolution game plan, with attainable, multi-tier goals for old and new hobbies, all broken down into twelve monthly categories. Then you need to look through local events, classes, clubs, and competitions that could liven up your resolution experience.
This is a lot of work to plan! That’s why I think it’s most essential that you start building your resolutions document now.
Not only will you be more prepared to actualize your goals, but you can start testing your resolve and building habits in the second half of December, when you’re more likely to have more free time. If you can’t exercise regularly or find hobby time while you’re on vacation, how will you manage it in January?
Plus, if you’re specifically planning to do more workouts or dieting next year, it makes sense to start testing out your new fitness smartwatch, workout plan, or nutrition app now. For example, the new Fitbit Personal Health Coach on the Pixel Watch 4 could build a training regimen for the gym, while a Garmin watch has personalized race plans and daily suggested workouts.
We have more fitness and resolutions content upcoming on Android Central in December, including a starter kit guide on the best tech and fitness apps to hit your goals. So if you’re looking for more guidance and motivation to hit your goals, keep an eye out for those!
