Ten Tips to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

The ten tips that keep a New Year’s resolution alive are: pick one specific goal, limit how many you take on, start small, learn from past failures, expect slow change, get support, renew your motivation, keep going past January, learn from setbacks, and write a plan for the bad weeks.

Updated October 30, 2026.

Millions of people make a resolution every year. Many of us see January 1 as a fresh start, a chance to drop bad habits and build better ones. Resolutions do not always stick, and that does not mean they were not worth making. Most of the time we just bite off more than we can chew. Most of us have also signed up for something in January full of good intentions and stopped going by spring. These tips can help you improve your chances.

I have restarted enough resolutions to know the usual pattern. The plan is built for an ideal week, and the first ordinary Tuesday breaks it. So plan for the ordinary Tuesday.

Choose a specific goal for your resolution

“Get in shape” and “be more productive” are too vague to act on. A goal you can plan around names a number and a date. Making a daily to-do list or training for a half marathon are goals you can actually check off. Keep it realistic rather than drastic.

For weight, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says health professionals recommend losing 5 to 10 percent of your initial body weight over about six months. It says that losing 3 to 5 percent of your current weight can lower triglycerides and blood glucose and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. For fitness, the CDC’s baseline for adults is 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. Those are goals you can write on a calendar.

Limit your resolutions to one or two

You may have a long list of things to fix. Pick one and put your energy there. Finishing even one small goal builds the belief that you can finish the next, and larger goals are easier once they are broken into pieces. New routines take time and steady effort, so taking on five at once is how all five fail.

Start with small steps

A common way a resolution dies is by starting too big: a crash diet, a seven-day workout week, a total change of routine. Build up instead. The CDC says some physical activity is better than none and that the 150 minutes can be broken up, such as 30 minutes a day, five days a week. If you have a health condition or have been inactive for a while, check with your doctor before you jump to hard workouts.

Slow at the start is fine. Small, steady changes are the ones still running in June.

Avoid repeating past failures

If the same resolution has failed three Januaries in a row, the goal is probably not the problem. The method is. Sit down before you restart and ask what actually worked: which week went best, what time of day, what made you stop.

Use the answers to change the plan, not just to try harder with the old one.

Remember that change is a process

You built the habit you want to change over years. A few weeks will not undo it. Don’t rush. A missed day is not the end of the resolution, and you can restart from where you are.

It is not a race. Lasting change usually means keeping a new behavior for the long haul, not hitting a date. It may take the rest of your life to keep a new habit once you have committed to it, and that is okay.

Get support to keep your resolution

The advice is overused because it works. Tell a friend or family member what you are doing and what help you want from them. A buddy with a matching goal makes it more fun and harder to skip. Most of us show up more easily when a friend is waiting for us than when we only answer to ourselves. If nobody close to you shares the goal, join a group that does.

Renew your motivation when it fades

On January 1 the change feels easy because you have not hit any discomfort yet. Anyone who has tried to cut back on something knows the hard part is the tired Thursday, not the first day. Then you are dragging yourself to the gym at 6 a.m. or sitting through nicotine withdrawal headaches, and the enthusiasm drains.

Write down what you stand to gain before that day arrives. When it gets hard, read the list. It beats trying to remember why you started.

Keep working on your goals past January

Initial motivation does fade, so plan for the dip instead of being surprised by it. Don’t give up when you hit a setback. If the current approach isn’t working, write a new one. A plan that bends will outlast one that doesn’t.

Keep a written record of what you did and what you tried. In a bad week, it is proof you have kept going before.

Learn and adapt after a setback

People often quit after one slip. Treat a relapse into an old habit as information, not as failure. Challenges are part of any goal, and each one tells you something about your plan.

If you keep a resolution journal, note what triggered the slip, when it happened, and what you will do differently next time. Knowing your triggers makes the next one easier to handle.

Make a detailed plan

Without a plan, the first obstacle is a reason to quit. If you have ever bought a planner in January, you know the first few pages are the neatest. So if you plan to run three times a week, decide now what you will do after four missed days or an injury. How will you keep the resolution on track when things get hard?

The first step is to write the goal down, list what you need to do to reach it, and note the obstacles you expect. You will be better prepared when the difficulties arrive, because you named them in advance.

New Year’s resolutions: common questions

How do I keep my New Year’s resolution past January?

Plan for the point where motivation fades. Pick one specific goal, start with a small version of it, and write down what you will do after a missed day. Keep a short record of your progress so a bad week does not erase the good ones. Restart quickly after a slip instead of waiting for next January.

How many New Year’s resolutions should I make?

One or two. Each resolution asks for attention, time and willpower, and those run out when you spread them across a long list. Choose the goal that matters most, give it a clear number and date, and add a second only after the first has become routine.

What is a good specific goal for a fitness resolution?

The CDC’s baseline for adults is 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, which it says can be broken up, such as 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Pick a version you can start now. If you have a health condition or have been inactive for a while, check with your doctor first.

What should I do if I break my resolution?

Restart the next day. Write down what triggered the slip, when it happened and what you will change, then go back to the plan. One missed day is a data point about your plan, not a verdict on you. People who treat a slip as the end are the ones who stop.

This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. Talk to a licensed clinician about your own situation.