New Year’s resolutions suck. They are a recipe for failure, and 80% of them die within the first two weeks.
Let’s break down the biggest reasons resolutions fall apart and what you can do instead to actually start 2026 with momentum.
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What is a New Year’s resolution?
Something that goes in one year and out the other.
5 Reasons Resolutions Suck and What To Do Instead
Let’s all take a minute and remember where we were on New Year’s Day of this year.
What were you doing?
Maybe you woke up late and felt like trash after overindulging on New Year’s Eve. Then you drank some water, tried to feel human again, and then did everybody’s favorite New Year’s activity: you set your resolutions.
Now here you are in December.
Are you where you hoped you would be?
Did those resolutions last longer than a few weeks?
Or are you pretty much in the same place you were last year?
Here is the truth we all know, but nobody likes to say out loud.
Resolutions suck.
They are a recipe for failure.
The sad reality is that more than 80% of resolutions fail by the second Friday in January. That day even has a nickname. It is called Quitters Day.
Over 90% of resolutions fail before the end of the year.
Then we repeat the process only to set ourselves up for failure again.
Let’s talk about the five big reasons that New Year’s Resolutions are crap and what you can do instead.
#1 You Follow the Crowd Instead of Your Heart
Most resolutions are random wishes made on a random day.
Everyone else is talking about their “new year, new me” aspirations, and your FOMO kicks in. So, you rush to follow the crowd and set your own resolutions.
In your haste, you pick something you think you should want instead of something truly meaningful to you.
Here’s some real talk: making big life changes isn’t easy. It’s even harder when you only have a half-assed commitment to those changes.
When the goal is not yours, you cannot stay committed to it.
#2 You Choose Vague Hopes as Resolutions
Do you know what the top 3 resolutions were for 2025?
- “I want to save more money.”
- “I want to get healthier (or lose weight).”
- “I want to spend more time with friends/family.”
Those sound great, right?
But what do those actually mean?
Here’s the thing about goals… If you can’t define it, you can’t achieve it.
Making some big wishes and hoping them into existence is far from the recipe for success.
#3 You Don’t Believe In Yourself
Let’s say you didn’t fall victim to the first two resolutions’ traps.
Your resolution is something that really matters to you, and you’re able to clearly define what success looks like. Congratulations, you have the beginning of an attainable goal.
But you may still be on shaky ground.
Do you really believe you can achieve your goal?
I know I talk about this a lot, but your brain believes what you tell it. If you commit to a resolution, but keep telling yourself that you probably won’t succeed, you’re likely to prove yourself right.
Your belief shapes your effort, and your effort shapes your results.
An attainable goal isn’t just theoretical. You have to believe in yourself if you want any chance of success.
#4 You’re Making a Wish, Not Creating a Plan
“If you build it, he will come.”
That’s a famous line from the movie Field of Dreams. And, while that may work when attracting ghostly baseball players, this isn’t how goals work.
You can’t simply speak a goal into success.
In real life, a goal without a plan is a wish.
Successful goals require steps, structure and accountability or the momentum dies instantly.
This is the fate of most new years resolutions.
#5 Your Plan Isn’t Really Your Plan
Finally, and we are kind of coming full circle here, your plan has to be YOUR plan.
Imagine trying to lose weight but having a sweet tooth.
The first thing you do is to say, “I’m never eating another cookie.”
That’s simply not going to happen.
The more you withhold things you like, the more you’ll hate the journey, and your goal is as good as ghosted.
You can’t achieve a goal with a plan that doesn’t fit your real life. That means someone else’s perfect plan or Instagram diet might be a total shit plan for you.
Sadly, most people fail because they are working against themselves instead of with themselves.
Making A Better Choice
Here’s the good news. The problem isn’t you. The problem is the process.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
We can break this cycle of resolution failures.
Here are three simple steps you can take to extract yourself from the 90% of people who fail and join the top 10% of goal-crushing success stories.
Step 1: Say Goodbye To Resolutions.
Here’s something most people never hear: resolutions are crap, so stop making them.
A New Year’s resolution isn’t a goal or a strategy.
It’s just noise that sets you up for disappointment.
So let’s forget resolutions completely.
You don’t have to wait for the year to change before you begin.
You can start building momentum now while the resolutions crowd is sitting still.
Let’s declare 2025 over and get moving today.
Step 2: Stop Guessing and Use a Proven System
Once you’ve decided that it’s time to get moving, it’s time to do yourself a favor: stop guessing your way through goal-setting. There are many proven systems ready to help you move from “I wish” to “I did.”
This is what the Project Manage Your Life Starter Kit is built to help you do.
The starter kit includes 3 powerful tools:
- The Project Manage Your Life eBook teaches you the proven system.
- The Interactive Workbook guides you through every step of creating your goals, building your plan, and doing the work.
- A one-month email mini course to help you build the momentum that gets you past the first few weeks when your goal is most fragile.
The Starter Kit removes the guesswork and gives you a step-by-step path to set a real goal, build a plan, and start strong.
Step 3: Say It Out Loud
Did you know that committing to your goal to someone else increases the odds of success to approximately 65%?
Your goals become real when you speak them.
When you say your goal out loud in front of others, it becomes real. And you get social accountability that helps you stay focused.
That’s why I am giving you an opportunity to say your goal out loud to others.
Join my Say It Out Loud Goal Crusher Coffee Chat on 12/29.
This coffee chat will be an informal 2026 goal-sharing roundtable.
We will each say our goals out loud to the group.
Not for judgment.
Not for feedback.
For support.
And to make them real.
Click below to sign up for this free event that will help you start 2026 already in motion.
How do you want to feel when the corks have popped and the ball has dropped?
Do you want to wake up on New Year’s morning making vague, hangover-fueled resolutions that will fall apart in a couple of weeks
Or do you want to start 2026 with clarity, confidence, and the kind of energy that only comes from momentum?
📝 Here’s your new year success blueprint: ditch the resolutions and start 2026 today with a proven goal-crushing system. Then join me for my Goal Crusher Coffee Chat and say it out loud. Your future you will thank you.
✨ I believe in you. Let me help YOU believe in you!
Meet Coach Tony
Tony Weaver is a master life coach, technologist, consultant, writer, and founder of Operation Melt.
He helps project managers and other left-brained high-achievers pursue their biggest goals.
Through free resources, personalized coaching, and his proven Project Manage Your Life system, Tony empowers clients to move their dreams from “someday” to success… one step at a time.
Learn more about Project Manage Your Life, the system my clients and I use to crush our goals, at OperationMelt.com/PMYL/
Meet Coach Tony