Is it time to take a break from setting New Year's resolutions?

UNSW Business School's Peter Heslin explores why New Year's resolutions often fail and suggests more sustainable strategies for life enhancement

Holidays are the time to chill, to disconnect from work and restlessness about the endless list of things we "need" to do.

Why, then, do so many of us disrupt our holiday vibe with a flurry of setting, sharing, and striving to adhere to our latest set of New Year's resolutions?

The psychological allure of New Year's resolutions

New Year's resolutions are a time-honoured tradition, a ritual of self-improvement that many embrace to start the year with renewed focus and ambition. The idea of a clean slate is compelling. 1 January feels like a symbolic opportunity to reflect on personal shortcomings, leave behind bad habits, and make a fresh start by setting ambitious goals for a better version of ourselves.

People set New Year's resolutions because the beginning of a new year represents a "temporal landmark," a moment in time that helps people mentally separate their past from their future. The "fresh start effect" is illustrated by research that found that Google searches for the terms "diet", "gym attendance", and "commitment to achieving goals" all increase around temporal milestones, such as the start of a new week, month, year, semester, or significant events like birthdays. These milestones serve as markers of time that help people draw a line under past shortcomings (i.e., mentally cast them off as "that was before") and adopt a fresh, broader perspective on their lives that inspires them to engage in aspirational goal-setting from now on!

Setting New Year's resolutions helps meet the human need to take control of our lives. This need underlies the universal resonance of Dr. Seuss' quip in "Oh, the places you'll go!":

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...

Typical resolutions, such as those that involve physical health, weight loss, eating habits, work, personal finance, and interpersonal relationships, can provide a sense of direction and purpose. The apparent simplicity of identifying something you want to change or achieve and declaring it as a goal can make self-improvement feel accessible, even for those of us who might struggle to make changes at other times of the year.

Read more: Wise ways to say “no” and why you should think twice before using them

The collective nature of the setting New Year's resolutions tradition – whereby friends, family, and media discuss resolutions – encourages participation in it. People can feel both inspired by others' goals – but also pressured – to join in the goal-setting and goal-sharing fest!

What could go wrong?

For many of us, the excitement of setting goals soon fades and leaves in its wake abandoned resolutions and perhaps even a niggling sense of having failed… again! One study of self-change attempts of 200 New Year's resolvers found that 77% maintained their pledges for 1 week, with most abandoned by mid-January and only 19% adhered to them for 2 years. Other research similarly confirmed that most people give up on their New Year resolutions within the first month. A prime reason why is that people often set unrealistic goals. For instance, someone might resolve to go to the gym every day, overlooking the practical challenges of time, energy, and habit-building. When overly ambitious resolutions become unmanageable, people feel discouraged and often abandon their efforts entirely.

The arbitrary timing of New Year's resolutions can be problematic. The idea that 1 January is the "right" time to make changes can create a false sense of urgency or delay action that could have started earlier. For example, someone might procrastinate on improving their health in November or December because they plan to start fresh in January. This fixation on a specific date also implies that meaningful change happens via one grand gesture or pivotal moment, rather than through gradual, consistent effort.

Another issue with resolutions is that they often focus on outcomes rather than processes. A goal like "losing 10 kgs" emphasises the end result without addressing the sustainable habits needed to achieve it, such as eating healthier, smaller meals and engaging in regular strength training and aerobic exercise. This outcome-driven approach can lead to frustration when progress is slow, or the goal feels distant. In contrast, focusing on small, incremental behavioural changes is often more effective for building long-lasting habits that enable substantive, lasting change.

Scholars Janet Polivy and Peter Herman identified the "false hope syndrome" as a cycle where individuals repeatedly pursue ambitious self-change goals, face almost inevitable failures, and then recommit despite setbacks, especially in areas like dieting or quitting addictive behaviours. Unrealistic expectations about ease, speed, and rewards lead to temporary progress, followed by setbacks and eventual failure. These failures are typically rationalised by attributing blame to insufficient effort or external factors, allowing individuals to retain hope and repeatedly recommit to essentially the same goals. While the allure of potential benefits, such as improved health, attractiveness, or sense of personal control, perpetuate the false hope syndrome, it can cause psychological distress and rob us of joy and self-esteem.

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Finally, New Year's resolutions can be prompted by external pressures rather than intrinsic motivations. Social expectations, advertising, and peer behaviour often shape resolutions, leading people to set goals that do not align with their true desires or values. Unsurprisingly, little is likely to change when your heart is not in it.

So, where is the pathway to my better self?

Typical New Year's resolutions, in the form of unrealistically optimistic goals launched at the start of the new year, are unlikely to take you far.

More promising, sustainable, and fun alternatives are to:

•  Reflect with pride on all you have already done and accomplished.
•  Recognise and resist the perilous, often subconscious trap of assuming you can only feel good about yourself and happy once you have achieved certain goals or become your desired self. 
•  Focus on having an enjoyable holiday marked by rich recovery experiences that fully disconnect you from the stresses of 2024, leaving you more reinvigorated for whatever you tackle in 2025.
•  Consider crafting more modest, flexible, short-term personal growth experiments rather than resolutions for the year, supported by scientific research-based goal-enablers… but only if you truly want to!

Dr Peter Heslin is a Professor of Management, Academic Fellow at Warrane College, and Deputy Director, UNSW Scientia Education Academy. He is a Registered Psychologist who was elected Chair of the Academy of Management Careers Division. He pioneered research on growth mindsets in organisations and wrote the most cited ever sole-authored peer-reviewed article on career success.