New year, same you: What experts say about New Year’s resolutions, and why most fail
Mapaballo Borotho
Society often expects us to set new goals, ambitions and resolutions whenever a new year begins. There is an unspoken pressure to reinvent ourselves, adopt new habits and leave parts of our past behind simply because the calendar has changed.
For many people, the beginning of a new year marks the start of a new season, prompting them to set goals they believe must be achieved before the year ends.
These goals, commonly referred to as New Year’s resolutions, may include taking up new hobbies or leaving behind old chapters, such as a job or relationship from the previous year.
However, experts say it is perfectly okay to continue where you left off. You don’t always have to chase new goals, as you may already be on the right path and simply need to keep going.
A global career and life coach, Kathy Caprino, emphasises the importance of understanding that approximately 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail, with most falling apart by February.
“Many people over the years (including myself) have written about new approaches needed to achieve our big goals and resolutions, including naming them something else, engaging with them in new ways and viewing them differently,” Caprino said.
“Personally, I don’t make New Year’s ‘resolutions’ per se because there’s so much hype and pressure around them that I find they rarely work. I choose to approach it more like a year-end review of what I’m most happy with in terms of whathas been achieved and created, and also to examine what has not gone well, as well as what has transpired that led to failed expectations and hopes. I then make some key decisions on what I want to expand on in my life,” she added.
Caprino explains that the best way to achieve a big stretch goal is to first understand why you want it, what motivates you to sustain progress towards it, and to proactively address your greatest fears about reaching it.
“Figure out now what’s in the way of believing that you are truly worthy of it, that you actually deserve it, and that you will be able to handle what comes when you achieve it including other people’s reactions and your own internal state when you finally make that goal a reality,” she said.
“Once you address your internal blocks and fears to achieving your big goal, the external path becomes much clearer and less challenging.”
One of the reasons why most New Year’s resolutions fail even before mid-year is that people treat them as a checklist that needs to be completed, and others add new goals without actually checking whether they crushed the ones that were set in the previous year.
In 2024, the Forbes Health Survey revealed that the intent to keep one’s New Year’s resolution only lasts two to four months before goal-setters give up or forget about it. Just under one in 10 say their resolutions have lasted a month, 21.9% report two months, 22.2% report three months, and 13.1% say their resolutions have lasted four months in the past.
Ultimately, experts agree that it is okay to let go of the pressure of the ‘new year, new me’ mindset and instead focus on improving the same person you have always been, one step at a time.
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