Why New Year's Resolutions Fail

How many times have you started January off with excitement, motivation, and an advantageous list of New Year’s Resolutions…. Only to throw in the towel just a few months later? Well, you are not alone - one study found that 23% of people quit their resolutions after just ONE WEEK.”

But why is this!? We are already so overwhelmed and burnt out that adding a bunch of new goals can feel like extra work and become hard to keep up with. While life can be chaotic enough, setting New Year’s Resolutions shouldn’t be an additional stressor. Not only will you learn the reasons New Year’s Resolutions fail, but you will also learn the tactics to crush your Resolutions plus any other goals you set! Investing in these strategies will lay the foundation needed for creating lasting healthy habits which can even increase your happiness too!

This article will teach you why New Year’s Resolutions fail and the tools to prevent these pitfalls from happening to you!

#1: Not Patient Enough

Patience and consistency are key to creating lasting habits. New Year’s Resolutions fail because of how long it can take to SEE results. For bigger goals that involve transformational body changes like weight loss or exercise, it can sometimes take up to THREE MONTHS to start seeing results - that’s a long time! In a society that expects instant gratification, this can feel like a long wait. Heck, we get annoyed if our Amazon package takes longer than 2 days to arrive - which is okay for toys, but unrealistic for big life changes!

If we don’t see results after a few weeks, we assume it didn’t work, and throw in the towel. The problem is most progress in the beginning is invisible. Take a pinata for example - the first few kids that hit the pinata don’t get the satisfaction of breaking it open, but it’s the invisible compounding efforts that eventually break it open. Working towards your goals is the same way. Don’t let your impatience get in the way of your success.

It also can take time for new healthy habits to become automatic.

Studies show that it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit - meaning you need to repeat it consistently for OVER TWO MONTHS before it will become auto-pilot. Implementing healthy habits is the foundation for accomplishing our goals and New Year’s Resolutions - so try to be patient and consistent. If your New Year’s Resolutions involve big changes, have confidence that all the work you are doing will soon pay off, because it will!

#2: Disconnected From Our Purpose

One lesser-known, but equally important reason New Year’s Resolutions fail is because people become disconnected from their purpose (or never identified it in the first place!) Your purpose, or your ‘why’, is the driving force that gives meaning to your life, gives you clear direction and motivates you. You can have disciplined habits and a resilient mindset, but without being connected with your WHY, your efforts and motivation will eventually wear off.

Take a few minutes to sit down somewhere quiet with no distractions and reflect on what your WHY is. Once you are aligned with your WHY, you will experience a transformation in your life. It will be what encourages you to get up early, to keep going when times get hard, and propels you when your motivation starts fizzling out. Working on your New Year’s Resolutions can require a lot of time and effort (especially outside of your full-time job) so use this to keep pushing you forward.

For extra motivation, write down your ‘why’ and post it up where you can see it - this will help when things get challenging this year!

#3: Lack of Accountability

It can be super easy to ditch your New Year’s Resolutions when you don’t have anyone checking your progress. Our lives are SO busy and when things get hectic (when are they NOT) tracking our goals is usually the first thing we drop. We have good intentions for our New Year’s Resolutions but let's be real… life gets in the way… next thing you know, it's been 4 weeks of slacking off so we just give up. Accountability is essential for any goal or habit you are trying to build, or even kick.

A few ways to hold yourself accountable:

Write your goals down
Track your progress
Find an accountability buddy

Write your goals down and post them somewhere you will frequently see them - like your office, mudroom, or bathroom. The more you see them, the more you will remind yourself to stay focused on them. Equally important, is tracking your progress.

Fun fact - your brain releases dopamine (the feel-good chemical) when you complete a task - so invest in a goal/habit tracker and give your brain some love when you check things off your list!

Find yourself an accountability buddy, or buddies! Tell someone your goals and ask them to regularly check in with your progress.

For some reason, we are totally fine disappointing ourselves (that's another conversation), but we hate disappointing other people - so this can be a HUGE motivator! I love this one because telling someone your own goals can motivate them to join in too, and the next thing you know, you’ve created an accountability group that can encourage each other!

If you skip this step it will make it much more likely that your New Year’s Resolutions will fail so remember to write your goals, track your progress, and hold yourself accountable!

#4: We Take on Too Much

At the beginning of January, we create this massively long list of things we want to accomplish, but taking on too much can be overwhelming and sometimes unattainable! With so much going on in our lives adding too much at a time can make it difficult to accomplish our goals. Break down your larger New Year’s Resolutions into smaller, bite-sized goals and create a timeline/roadmap to achieve them.

Don’t try to boil the ocean - start small and simple, then add on when you are ready to take more on. Remember, habits can take up to two months to become automatic so focus on implementing a few healthy habits at a time. Small changes over time can have a transformational impact on your life and overall happiness. Take your entire list of New Year’s Resolutions and highlight the top 2 most important ones - focus first on those.

#5: We Give Up After Slipping Up

New Year’s Resolutions fail when people give up after slipping up for a few days or weeks. Try to be realistic in your expectations and allow yourself to have breaks and try again. Life is constantly navigating different ‘Seasons of Life’ so know it’s okay to shift your focus. When my husband lost his job, I had to put my side business and goals on hold for several months- I had to focus solely on my day job (what paid me) and my priorities shifted to being where my family needed me most. Having to take a break isn’t what’s important - it's how quickly we can get back to it!

One leading indicator of success is how quickly someone recovers from a setback. Not only are breaks acceptable but they are also encouraged! Sometimes, transformational changes happen when you step away from something. When I started my side business back up after a few months off, I came back with more clarity and a completely new perspective on my work. Give yourself some Grace - you are doing your best and that is all you can do!

#6: Our Goals Aren’t Measurable

Did you know there are 5 strategies to make your goals easier to achieve? The SMART Goals acronym will help you learn them and make your New Year’s Resolutions easier to stick to. SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. For this article, we will focus solely on Measurable - but you can click here to learn why the other letters are equally as important.

New Year’s Resolutions fail because they are often vague and difficult to track progress. Setting the goal ‘get healthy’ is much more difficult to measure than ‘lose 15 pounds’. We set unmeasurable goals all the time without realizing it. ‘Eating healthier’ is a common one- but what does that even mean, and how do you know when you’ve achieved it? Take a look at your New Year’s Resolutions and for any that are difficult to track, create ways to make them measurable.

You need your New Year’s Resolutions to be measurable so you know when you have accomplished them. Remember, checking off a task releases dopamine so let’s not miss out on any opportunities for an extra hit of that!

Wrap It Up

With the chaos of life, we need to find ways to make sure our New Year’s Resolutions stick and not become overwhelming. Here is a quick recap of the main takeaways from this article!

Reasons why New Year’s Resolutions fail:

We are not patient enough - seeing results and implementing habits can take 2-3 MONTHS
Disconnected from our purpose - Stay aligned with your ‘WHY’ - this will motivate you when times get tough or you lose motivation
Lack of accountability - write your goals down, track your progress, and find an accountability buddy
We take on too much - Don’t try to boil the ocean, focus only on the top 3 most important goals at a time
We give up after a slip-up - Take breaks but get back to it when you are ready
Our goals aren't measurable - make them easy to track and how when you have achieved them

Most importantly, HAVE FUN with your New Year’s Resolutions - they are not meant to cause additional stress. I cannot wait to see your progress over the next 12 months - you got this!!

This article was edited by: Brooke Scott