We’ve all been there! By the end of December you’re racking your brain thinking of New Year’s resolutions, trying to decide how to improve yourself and your life in the coming year. You choose a few goals — like eating better, exercising more, reading more books — and attempt to make them stick over the course of the next 365 days. At first, you’re 100% committed, but by mid-January, those resolutions are mostly a thing of the past.
This is totally normal, to be sure. Achieving a big goal isn’t easy, which is why so many people give up. But if you’ve decided that 2025 is going to be your year of actually accomplishing those resolutions, here’s how to set a goal for long-term success.
Step one: Start small.
Don’t overpromise! If you know you won’t be running a marathon by October or going vegan when you love cheese, don’t set those goals! Be realistic with yourself and start small instead, with less intimidating, more approachable resolutions and goals that you know you can achieve. Also, it’s best to make one or two goals you can stick to; this keeps you from getting overwhelmed by too many changes, too fast.
If you want to make a big change, consider using that goal as a guidepost but breaking it down into smaller goals that are more manageable. For example, if your goal is to run a marathon but you’ve never run more than a mile, commit to running four days a week or hitting a certain number of miles per week. If you can feasibly manage that, adjust your goal mid-year and run a half-marathon. If your goal is to learn a new language, reframe that resolution and try to learn a certain amount of words in a year, or have a short conversation with someone in that language instead of being fully fluent.
Step two: Track your progress.
Buy a notebook or journal to track your progress month after month. On January 1, write down your resolutions or goals to solidify them. Each week or month, track your progress with short notes or entries. Where are you seeing success? What are your challenges? Reflecting can help you change course, and looking back after a year of work is so gratifying.
Step three: Hold yourself accountable.
Don’t let yourself off the hook so easily! It’s tempting to give up when things get hard, but if this is something you really want to do, you have to stay accountable. Hold yourself accountable with regular check-ins or a calendar, or ask a friend, family member, or partner to help you commit.
Step four: Be gentle with yourself.
Making big changes is difficult, so give yourself grace when things don’t go as planned. It’s OK to have a bad week or month. Nobody is perfect, but the fact that you’re trying to make positive changes in your life and achieve a meaningful goal is important and admirable.