How To Turn New Years Resolutions Into Effective Goals

Earlier in the week, I saw this image doing the rounds on social and it struck a note with me and I checked the statistics around New Years Resolutions.

Here’s what the numbers say about New Year’s resolutions in the UK:

• Around 21% of people abandon their resolutions within the first month.
• Only 9% of individuals successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions long-term.
• The average resolution lasts until about mid-May—roughly four and a half months.
• Older adults (55+) are less likely to set resolutions, with only 12% participating.
• Health and fitness goals dominate, with 42% of people focusing on this area.

These stats highlight a common struggle: resolutions often feel like fleeting traditions, driven by a response to holiday indulgence, stress, and pressures. So, how can we move beyond this pattern and create meaningful, lasting change?

Moving Beyond Resolutions: The 5 Core Basics

At our wellness club, we believe in a smarter approach to goal-setting. Instead of relying on fleeting motivation, we encourage you to focus on a framework built on the 5 Core Basics:

1. Mindset: A positive and growth-focused attitude is the foundation of change.
   
   This is more than just ‘I think therefore I am’ (e.g. just thinking about it and it will happen), but examining any limiting beliefs you are carrying and more.
   
2. Intention: Understand your “why” – knowing what drives you is key.
   
   If your goal has a purpose, and is not just a whim or a wish, and you can phrase that clearly, then your intention becomes more realisable as it has a structure and substance.
   
3. Alignment with Values: Align your goals with what truly matters to you.
   
   Self sabotague, procrastination and distraction (SS, P & D) come in this area. If it isn’t really in aligment with your beliefs, values, and moral compass; then at a subconscious level the SS, P & D play a role in preventing any momentum.
   
4. Visualization of Outcome: Picture success clearly to stay inspired.
   
   There is a clear correlation between visualisation and outcomes. This is different from intention. This is being able to seeing your goal and visualise it, then digging in deep and seeing what emotions it stirs up. If you getting X, Y or Z leaves excitement or some positive emotion, then write it down, with what you see how the goal looks (e.g. are you running a shop, painting on a mountain top, speaking to someone in a new language, sitting in your new extension) and how you feel. If it has negative emotions, then use the emotional freedom technique to deal with netagive emotions (negative emotions are natural, fear of the unknown, rejection etc., but dealing with them will enable you to see much more clearly if they are warning signs that you are not in alignment or if they are just emotional stumbling blocks to deal with).
   
5. Ability: Build confidence by setting achievable, progressive goals.
   
   Goals have to be within your ability, it is very difficult to set a goal that is outside of your natural abilties. Yes, a part of a goal can be learning and new skill or undergoing training; but that has to be something achievable as well. If you goal is outside of your abilities AND ultimately, CAPABILITIES, then don’t set yourself up for a fall. Reach for the stars, only if you are able, after training, to build a craft to take you to them.

With these basics in place, you’re ready to take the next steps:

• Accountability: Share your goals with someone who will support you.
  
  Now I have heard people talk about the opposite of this, they say sharing your goal is self-saboutage. The rational is you have shared it, so have achieved it. This was an old tactic in the home self development kit days, if someone reading or watching saw a home study kit that solved X, Y or Z, then by buying it, that gave them a sense of relief/achivement, and 90% ended up sitting in cupboards and never used. Therefore, the ultimate issue was never resolved. However, this is a fallacy in goal planning, as it shows that the purchase was just a whim and was never a goal that had the 5 core basics in place. A goal is being confused with a whim, wish or dream.
  
• Planning: Break your goal into small, actionable steps.
  
  A goal needs to be broken down into managable steps and there are plenty of goal/step guides out there! There are 3 clear reasons why this is a very good habit.
  
  1. It enables you to see clearly what is required at what stage, it could be as simple as a phone call, doing research, enrolling on training or going for a 5 minute walk.
  
  2. It prevents overwhelm. If the steps are not clearly marked out, then not having a clear starting point can cause starting confusion and having mixed or larger goals can bring on overwhelm if time is short each day.
  
  3. It enabled you to get achivement at the beginning. By being able to complete goals earlier on, drives positivity towards the goal by achiving what has already been set out and, in some cases, it can accellerate other stages and steps.
  
• Vision: Keep your desired outcome front and center.
  
  This is different from visualiation, visualistion is about seeing you in the outcome, driving positive emotion and feeling excited about it. Vision is keeping the overall outcome as an objective, from which you can plan your steps. This may come from the visualisation as well as the early objective. However, it is meant to be more objective and for planning, it also has another objective, it can be adjusted if circunstances change in your life that drives such a need.
  
• Adjusting Your Routine: Create habits that support your journey daily.
  
  It is often a case that a daily or weekly routine will need to change to achive a goal. Time will need putting aside from learning, planning and training. You may need to be spending time with different people who are also on journey for encouragement. Your may need to review your steps daily, eat at different times, spend less time on entertainment and more in research. All of this means your daily routine will be impacted and you need to have level of excitment about this supporting your goal, and not resenting change.

A Journey, Not a Sprint

New Year’s resolutions often feel like short-term fixes, but real, lasting change is a journey. It’s about setting goals that resonate with your values, creating a plan, and enjoying the process.

In this club we have a members area that is about effective goal planning and providing the support for mindset, tools, tecniques and coaching insights. Have a look around and don’t let a ‘resolution’ turn into a failure because your foundations were not laid.

This is not to say that others who do this without consciously thinking about the foundations, won’t succeed – lots do. However, they seem to have these applied naturally and without thinking about them; but if you look carefully, they will have all of the core elements in place.

Also, for different groups, e.g. business who sign up for the Business Wellness program (see details HERE) we offer planning training that fits around the requirements of a workplace and business goals.