Looking at the mindsets people have when setting New Year’s resolutions and reasons why resolutions work and fail.

Dear Spirited Earthling,

January is the month of New Year’s resolutions and New Year, New Me energy. There are people who love setting resolutions and embracing the clean slate. And then there are others who find these activities to be pointless, unengaging, and sometimes performative. In short, new year’s resolutions are both celebrated and derided because some see value in them, while others dismiss and mock them. This post explores the concept and practice of setting resolutions, science-backed help in achieving them, and what you can do instead.

What is the Fresh Start Effect?

The idea of change and maybe more specifically change for the better is at the heart of New Year’s resolutions. A 2014 study showed evidence of a “fresh start effect ,” where people are more likely to start a goal at temporal landmarks like a new week, month, year, term, semester, birthday, new job, or public holiday. So where does this come from?

Well, looking at religion - you can become born-again, confess and be absolved, and participate in purification rituals. Through this and the general societal celebration of starting fresh to become a better version of yourself, it makes sense for people to consciously and subconsciously look for times to start again with a clean slate.

The temporal landmark makes it easier to reflect and, to some degree, psychologically disconnect from the past self. This can help you be more at peace with your current self and more hopeful for your future self. This hopeful effect could be one reason behind the continued tradition of setting New Year’s resolutions.

Success Rates of New Year’s Resolutions

A market research company looked at the data and shared that 3 in 10 Americans made a resolution in 2024, with 63% of them feeling pressured to do so. The older a person was, the less likely they were to set intentions. Younger people might be more hopeful about committing to resolutions, but Gen Z also reported the most pressure to set them. Perhaps the older one gets, the more jaded they become with the practice—too many tries and too many failures, or simply a "been there, done that" mindset.

“I'm resolving to just wing it and see what happens.” ~ Bill Watterson

The truth is, success rates of New Year’s resolutions are pretty low. It is believed that 43 % of resolution setters fail before February, with about 1 in 4 quitting within the week. The most referenced statistic is a success rate of just 9% by the end of the year.

Interestingly, only 12–14 % of Swedes set intentions in 2023, compared to 37 % of Americans. A 2021 study analysed resolutions shared on Twitter and found that English-speaking commentary was more sarcastic and derisive, whereas German-speaking commentary was positive and encouraging. This raises the question: does your cultural environment influence your success rate? .

Why Do New Year’s Resolutions Work?

In a 2020 study, participants who received some form of support were the most successful in achieving their resolutions. This is what the support looked like and entailed:

Social Support

Choosing an accountability buddy or sharing your goal with supportive family members and friends provides essential social support on your journey. This can include:

Emotional encouragement
Physical support (e.g., exercising with you)
Shared optimism and inspiration
Reinforcing commitment through regular check-ins
Collaborating to overcome challenges by helping with problem-solving so you can implement solutions that you might not have considered on your own.

SMART Goal Setting

Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-framed goals focus your efforts and improve your chances of success. This process also helps you critically evaluate whether a goal is realistic or overly ambitious.

Setting Interim Goals

A year is a long time, and it’s easy to procrastinate when you have months to achieve something. Interim goals provide better-sustained motivation and help avoid last-minute stress or burnout. The book The 12 Week Year recommends focusing on 12-week goals instead of annual ones to maintain momentum and focus.

Information and Reflection

In the study, participants received motivational emails and reflection exercises every 12 weeks. These exercises encouraged them to:

Reflect on what worked and what didn’t
Identify ways to overcome challenges
Reassess requirements for success and slow progress

This process helps you stay accountable and adjust as needed.

Approach-Oriented Goals

Participants with approach-oriented goals were significantly more successful than those with avoidance-oriented goals. Here’s the difference:

Approach-Oriented Goals: Positively framed, focusing on achieving a positive outcome. For example: “I want to exercise regularly to feel healthier and stronger” and “I aim to learn a new skill to enhance my career opportunities.” This fosters intrinsic motivation and hope.
Avoidance-Oriented Goals: Negatively framed, focusing on avoiding a negative outcome. For example: “I want to stop eating junk food to avoid gaining weight.” This can create stress and anxiety, reducing motivation.

Remember that words have power and the phrasing you use matters in any aspect of life.

Why Do New Year’s Resolutions Fail?

*This section has mention of mental health and suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, support is available on hotlines*

There are different reasons why people give up on their resolutions. Already mentioned reasons include having no accountability (if your self-disciple isn’t the strongest), choosing overly ambitious and unrealistic goals, and avoidance-oriented goals that focus on the wrong outcome. Other reasons include:

Too Many Goals

It’s easy to get carried away and want to change multiple aspects of life at once. Dividing your attention betweeen these different committments means a lot of energy is required. Breaking old habits and building new habits is hard and can be exhausting. So trying to change too many things at once sets you up for failure. Couple this with unrealistic and vague goals, there is bound to be frustration and disappointment.

Poor Planning and Prioritising

It is harder to incorporate new habits in busy and already established schedules when there has been no adjustment or plan created to prioritise time for the resolution. Setting resolutions without considering existing commitments or realistic time constraints inevitably means they will feel like burdens and lose priority. They are easily forgotten when they aren’t a priority and receive less and less attention.

New Year, New Pressures

The start of a new year is typically associated with the expectations to make changes to improve yourself and or your life. There may be pressures to have big plans, set ambitious goals, and start working out – throw yourself and all your energy into the ‘new you’.

As touched on above, there are groups of people who feel pressured to set resolutions (younger generations and women). Sometimes pressure is a good thing, and it can motivate you; and sometimes it can overwhelm you. Setting intentions because you’re told to, want to fit in, or have FOMO are often not good enough reasons to see a goal through. Goals also become less intentional and authentic when you're scramming to think of something or choose it based on what you saw on social media. A goal without a solid ‘why’ and real motivation behind it will never be achieved.

Social media becomes inundated with resolutions, high productivity related goals, success stories and calls for transformation. Ads push you to ‘fix’ yourself, and often the messaging from businesses and influencers alike is: become a richer and skinnier you when you buy my program or product, and you too can have a successful new year. Quite simply, insecurities are being preyed upon.

While some can withstand the pressure and don’t set resolutions, and others are okay to not see the resolution through because their heart wasn’t actually in it, there are some who carry the weight of the pressure and harshly reflect on themselves, their life, and their past year. The messaging around something being wrong with you and needing to be fixed affects people with anxiety and depression type of thinking in a different and detrimental way to those who don’t have them.

The Broken-Promise Effect

Sadly, a 2024 study found that suicides are highest across all study countries on Mondays during weekdays (Mondays - Fridays) and New Year’s Day. One of the theories for this was the broken-promise effect. The broken-promise effect occurs when a person feels negative or heavy emotions after failing to honour commitments (in this context, previously set resolutions) to themselves, or not achieving goals despite some effort. This broken-promise effect can trigger feelings of guilt and shame, disappointment in oneself, and ultimately erode self-confidence and self-trust. This can lead to cycles of avoidance or simply not trying.

Both Mondays and New Year's Day hold pressures and expectations (and potential alcohol consumption the days before). The real or perceived failing to ‘renew’, sitting with disappointment of past expectations while fearing new expectations, can trigger suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The holiday season isn’t easy and joy-filled for many people. There are many who spend New Year's Eve alone. So when you struggle to enjoy the ‘good time’ (weekends and year-end break) and have to prepare for the ‘bad time’ (going back to work and work stresses), it could feel like the promise of a fresh start was broken. While that’s not the definition of the broken-promise effect, it can play a role.

Perfectionism

There are days that you will have the energy to show up 110 % of the time and days when that energy may only be at 10 %. Viewing resolutions as all-or-nothing commitments leads to abandoning them at the first sign of failure. One slip-up or not showing up the way you wanted can trigger feelings of guilt and inadequacy, causing you to give up or not try so you don’t fail.

Lack of Immediate Results

Today’s world is one of instant-gratification, whether it’s through likes on social media to same-day or next-day delivery. This means that impatience is on a whole other level. Many resolutions take time to show noticeable progress (from losing weight, to increasing savings). The lack of immediate results can lead to frustration, discouragement, and low motivation.

New Year’s resolutions can be a powerful tool for change when approached with intentionality and support. However, they’re not the only path to growth. January doesn’t have to be the month of total transformation. It can also be a month of gentle growth when you choose to make small changes that serve you and not stress you. Redefine what success means to you and ignore what social media would think of it. Shift the focus from fixing flaws to nurturing strengths. If resolutions feel overwhelming, consider alternatives:

Choose a word or theme for the year.
Create a vision board.
Focus on one habit in one aspect of your personal wellness at a time.

Honour your current emotional and mental states and start where you are, using what you have, and doing what you can. It is okay, if not important, to do less when you are coping with more. You don’t have to change who you are to have an amazing year.

“For a change, don't add new things in your life as a new year's resolution. Instead, do more of what's already working for you and stop doing things that are time-waste.” ~ Salil Jha

Spirited Earthling is more than just a blog – it's a gathering place for kindred spirits drawn by an interest in self-discovery, the appeal of self-care, and a desire for a deeper connection to themselves and the world. Written and created for curious minds and spiritual hearts seeking meaning in everyday life, this blog aims to help you curate your wholesome personal growth with free weekly ideas and affordable resources for sale.

As you navigate your personal growth journey using the words and ideas shared here, consider sharing this blog with someone looking for inspiration or motivation on their own journey. We are all spirited earthlings, and can lift each other together with mindful, connected living.

Thank you for being part of this community.

Best wishes, warmest regards

Jordan

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Understanding The Psychology of New Year's Resolutions: Why They Work and Don’t