GoalVision

New Year resolutions planner

Write your resolutions as they come to you. We'll flag the “stop doing” ones and help you turn them into “start doing” goals, the kind research finds people keep more often.

Why “start” beats “stop”

In 2020, Martin Oscarsson and colleagues at Stockholm University followed more than a thousand people's New Year's resolutions for a year (PLOS ONE). People whose resolutions were approach-oriented, aiming toward something new, were significantly more likely to report success than people with avoidance-oriented resolutions, aiming to stop or avoid something.

A likely reason: "don't" goals give you nothing to do when the urge arrives, and every slip feels like failure. "Do" goals give you an action to take, which fits with if-then planning.

Four steps for resolutions that last

  1. Choose two or three. Not ten.
  2. Flip each to approach. Use the planner above.
  3. Make it SMART. Add a number and a date in the SMART goals worksheet.
  4. Make it daily. Add the action to your habit tracker, and put the picture of why on your vision board.

Missed the 1st of January? Research on the "fresh start effect" (Dai, Milkman & Riis, 2014) found people are more likely to start goals after any new beginning: a Monday, the first of a month or a birthday.

Questions people ask

How do you keep New Year's resolutions?

Phrase them as something to start doing rather than something to stop (approach goals), make them specific with a number and a date, attach the daily action to an existing routine, and track it. Having support helps too.

What is the difference between approach and avoidance goals?

An approach goal moves you toward something ("eat a vegetable with dinner"); an avoidance goal moves you away from something ("stop eating junk food"). In a large experiment on New Year's resolutions (Oscarsson et al., 2020, PLOS ONE), people with approach-oriented resolutions were significantly more likely to report success after a year.

What are the most common New Year's resolutions?

In Oscarsson and colleagues' study, the most common themes were physical health, weight loss and eating habits. Money, learning and relationships are also popular.

Is January the only time to set goals?

No. Dai, Milkman and Riis (2014) found people are more likely to start goals after many "temporal landmarks": the start of a week, month, birthday or holiday. Any fresh start can work.