Foolproof New Year's Goal Setting Ideas
Resolutions can be fickle. Here are some ways you can combat the end-of-January fall-off.
Every year I write an article like this, hoping it helps at least some of the people who read it.
But every year, I’m not sure if it resonates. I’m opening up the comments section to this post (a feature I sometimes forget to turn on before I publish) so that if this article helps you, you can let me know.
And if it doesn’t, I always want to know why it wasn’t helpful.
This year, I want to emphasize brevity and specificity.
You don’t need to set 5-10 New Year’s Resolutions. I might even say you don’t need to set 3-5.
Make ONE or TWO solid resolutions with real reasons behind them (that you can associate some visceral feeling with — more on that in the playbook below) and watch how much more successful this year is for you.
“But Fran, 1-2 is so few. What if I achieve them too quickly?”
Listen, that is the absolute BEST case scenario! Set more if you achieve them before the end of 2026. But fully complete them (and don’t regress) first.
Foolproof New Year’s Goal Setting Ideas
Step 1: Set 1-2 Goals With a Solid “Why” behind them, and don’t let that Why escape your mind
Having an important reason for your goals is crucial, but reminding yourself of that reason consistently is the most surefire way to make sure those goals get accomplished.
It’s simply not enough to say:
“I want to walk 10,000 steps a day this year.”
“I want to lose 20 pounds this year.”
“I want to have noticeable abs this year.”
“I want to lower my blood pressure this year.”
“I want to be able to squat 200 pounds this year.”
It’s more powerful, more motivating, and more viscerally important to you if your goals say:
“I want to walk 10,000 steps a day this year because when I don’t move my body, I feel like shit, and I’m tired of feeling like shit.”
“I want to lose 20 pounds this year because my doctor said I’m over the clinically obese threshold — I’ve never been obese in my life and I don’t want to stay this way.”
“I want to have noticeable abs this year because even if it’s vain, I hate not having luck in the dating circuit. I don’t want to be single anymore.”
“I want to lower my blood pressure this year because my {insert relative here] died too early of a heart attack, and I will not suffer the same fate.”
“I want to be able to squat 200 pounds this year because life has only improved the stronger I’ve gotten. I shouldn’t let a plateau stop me from seeing what my limits are.”
If your 2026 goals fall into these buckets and are adjacent to anything I’ve written here, I’d challenge you to ask yourself about the WHY attached to the goal.
Think critically about it.
If you can’t attach a statement like the bolded ones above to your goal, a statement that makes you cringe a little bit at the thought of what might happen if you don’t achieve what you set out to achieve, you need a different goal for it to stick.
You also need to write it down somewhere, plaster it in a notebook, on a fridge door, or on your phone screen so you can be reminded why you started (and WON’T stop one month after) January 1st.
Maybe if the reminder is not written down, it’s plugged into some sort of automation in your life — a phone reminder, an Apple Watch goal, or a calendar invite — that can keep you on the ball.
Whatever the means, make sure you have someone (a friend, a loved one) or something else holding you to it.
Step 2: Habit Stack Your Way To Success
Habits are formed through repetition.
But they’re also formed by association and positive (and even negative) reinforcement. It’s not enough to repeat the task ad nauseam. Your brain is stubborn and will reject new augmentations to your schedule if you try to start right away on January 1 with no system in place.
Habit-stacking, or building small feedback loops into your days where your goal work is being done, is another great way to make sure the “thing” you’re trying to do gets accomplished.
Using the same framework from above, it’s insufficient and unlikely that something you’re changing in your daily routine sticks if:
You jam-pack it into an already crowded schedule with no routine around it
You don’t have a backup plan for what happens if the habit doesn’t occur on a given day
You’re not prepared to discipline yourself into doing the thing every day
Instead, you’ll see lasting change (shout out to James Clear for this thought — read Atomic Habits if you haven’t already, and re-read it if you have) if you:
Create a mini-routine around the goal you want to accomplish by habit-stacking. Here are some examples.
If the plan is to work out in the morning, lay gym clothes out the night before, set your alarm, and turn on the brightest lights you can as soon as you wake, so that you’re not inclined to fall back asleep
If the plan is to work out in the evening, leave the same set of gym clothes out on the bed or pack them in a duffel and bring them with you to work. Drive a route to work that involves passing the gym, or send a text to a trainer to confirm the evening’s workout, so that you’re setting yourself up to train
If the plan is to eat less in the evenings, make a routine of drinking non-caffeinated tea in the evenings, eat your protein-filled dinner, and find an activity that takes your mind off of food (NYT games, puzzles, a nightly dog walk) before going to sleep.
Create positive reinforcement around the habit-stacking routine you’ve developed. If you accomplish all of the habits in your habit stack, reward yourself with a diet soda or something tasty/enjoyable (weight loss goal setters: don’t go crazy with the rewards here.
You’re more likely to achieve something if you know there’s a small reward at the end of it. I told myself I couldn’t play video games today until I finish this newsletter. So here we are.
Have a backup plan in place for when things go awry (because they will). Use your positive reinforcement award to cement your ability to do the thing (“I missed my workout window today, but I’m DETERMINED to have that chocolate peanut butter protein bar, even if the workout is 45 minutes.”)
Create NEGATIVE reinforcement loops around the scenarios where the habit stack DOESN’T happen. This will further incentivize you to do the thing.
If you miss your workout on a day where working out was totally in your control, donate $50 to a charity you don’t support.
If you sat on your butt when you could’ve easily gone for a 30-minute walk, reschedule the plans you were planning with friends to make up for it.
The negative feedback loop does have the potential to spiral into extreme penalties, so be careful with this one.
Need help setting a habit stack for yourself that isn’t toxic? Whether you're my client or not, consider messaging me here on Substack, and I’ll help you for free — we can jump on a call or handle it right here in the chat box in 15-20 minutes.
Step 3: Consider What You Can Do To Subtract Things From Your Day
I teeter back and forth about what works best for people trying to improve their health.
In the above newsletter from two years ago, I made the case for adding things to your routine to enforce change.
I think that can work for some people, some of the time, because much of health and fitness goal-setting feels reductive.
But for New Year’s, I actually want to pivot.
I think in many cases, it’s more helpful to consider what you can do without in your current day-to-day.
In my experience working with my 30+ clients, most people have a LOT going on. A lot of them don’t need one MORE thing to do.
They need an activity, habit, or routine to be swapped out and replaced.
So instead of trying to jam something into an already-busy schedule, I recommend doing a very thorough analysis of your day and seeing where the change could be exchanged rather than squeezed in.
Here are some ideas.
Most people with phones (all of us) spend a fair bit of time scrolling on social media. It’s an indeterminant amount of time, but it adds up. Whenever that time may be, it might be worth considering if you can swap that scroll time (even if it’s just 10 minutes — seriously!) with exercise or cooking a nice meal.
If you’re a meeting or appointment-based worker, what meetings on your calendar are non-essential? Come on, you know you have them. Which could be pushed, shortened, or rescheduled for something more productive, like a short walk, a trip to the gym, a bike ride, or a grocery run? Find them — set boundaries with your colleagues and make that your essential [insert goal here] time.
If you’re struggling to sleep long enough hours, consider where in your evening you can start to add back 20-30 minutes of sleep. Busier people often spend more time scrolling, watching TV, or binging things in the evenings because they feel like they’ve missed the day from overworking. That’s a separate newsletter about boundary setting. But what you can do is start your bedtime routine/wind-down sooner to make sure you’re recovering (and maybe even waking up earlier the next day) to handle whatever tomorrow’s in store. You needn’t add a whole hour of sleep (unless you’re averaging 5 hours a night — then we should talk), but find ways that you can stop BS’ing at night and start to ease into bed by reading, or (fine) scrolling while already in the sheets. Bonus point if your partner’s game for it.
Happy (almost) New Year.
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I’d love to get to 350 subscribers by January 1st, and maybe I’ll do a little giveaway if we get there.
See you in 2026!