31/12/2025
New Year’s resolutions suck.
There, I said it. And if you’ve ever started January full of hope and good intentions, only to find them quietly abandoned by February… you’re not alone.
And maybe that’s part of the problem — it feels like everyone is doing it. The fresh notebooks, the gym sign-ups, the diets, the “word for the year” posts flooding your feed. There’s a strange collective energy that suggests now — right now — is the time to change everything.
Except… why?
✨ The calendar doesn’t know you.
There’s nothing inherently magical about January 1st. It’s just a date. But we treat it like a universal reset button — a moment we’re all supposed to become better, more disciplined, more motivated versions of ourselves.
The truth is, you are allowed to set goals whenever you want. In fact, you’re more likely to succeed if you make changes based on something meaningful in your life — not just because the calendar told you to.
Waiting for a specific date to make a change can actually hold us back from being responsive to what we need. If something matters to you — if you want to start something new, make a shift, or get support — then any day is the right day.
🚫 Resolutions are often about restriction — and that rarely sticks.
Here’s a familiar list:
• Stop eating sugar
• Delete social media
• Cut back on screen time
• Quit complaining
Notice the pattern? Most resolutions are about removing something. But behaviour doesn’t work like that. It abhors a vacuum.
When we take something away — especially something that offers comfort, pleasure, or even just familiarity — we almost always need to replace it with something else. If we don’t, the gap left behind usually gets filled with whatever’s easiest or most automatic… and that’s not usually the change we’re hoping for.
So instead of asking “What should I cut out?”, maybe a better question is “What do I want more of?” and “What would help me do that, even just a little?”
🏔 They’re too big, too vague, and too much all at once.
“Be healthier.”
“Get organised.”
“Spend more time with family.”
These are lovely intentions. But they are also overwhelming. They often come without a plan, without structure, and without consideration for what’s already going on in your life. When the initial motivation wears off — which it will — we’re left feeling like we’ve failed. Not because the goal wasn’t important, but because it wasn’t supported.
✅ So what does help when it comes to setting goals?
Goals are most useful when they:
🔹 Are personally meaningful — not something you feel pressured to care about
🔹 Take into account your current context and capacity
🔹 Are specific, practical and flexible
🔹 Include a problem-solving mindset rather than a perfectionist one
Sometimes that means starting smaller than you think. Sometimes it means figuring out what’s getting in the way before you even begin. And almost always, it means giving yourself permission to tweak, adjust or completely change the plan as you go.
That’s not failure. That’s good planning.
💬 Change doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful.
You don’t need a new year. You don’t need a brand-new version of yourself. And you definitely don’t need to make sweeping, all-or-nothing changes just because everyone else seems to be.
Instead, what if you gave yourself permission to build change gently? To keep checking in across the year, noticing what matters, and adjusting course accordingly?
That’s real growth. And you deserve that kind of support — from yourself and from others.
