What You Don’t Know About New Year’s Resolutions

Dec 23

an amethyst crystal next to some alter accessories and a lit candle — Photography by Brie Pereboom

New Year’s resolutions get a bad rap. You’ve probably heard influencers throwing around that stat: “95% of resolutions fail.” Or your family makes fun of you for wanting to set one.

But they're wrong.

Setting goals at the start of the year isn’t the problem. In fact, starting on January 1st can be a power move and the research backs it.

Why New Year’s Momentum Actually Works

Researchers have found that we’re more likely to start goal-oriented behaviors on days that feel like a “clean slate” or what they call temporal landmarks. These are moments that have meaning to you:

New Year’s
Birthdays
First day of the month
First Monday of a new job
Even the start of a new season

These aren’t just dates. They’re psychological resets. Across multiple studies, framing a moment as a “new beginning” created a causal boost in motivation. People were more willing to take action on their goals when the day felt symbolic or fresh, compared to an ordinary Tuesday.

Why?

Temporal landmarks create a sense of separation between your past self and your future self. You get to mentally file your old habits and failures into the “previous chapter” category.

And then, with that clean break, you approach your goals with more excitement, intention, and clarity.

This is called The Fresh Start Effect, and you can be strategic in how you use it to your advantage.

How to Make Your Fresh Start Stick

Here are evidence-based strategies that actually support follow-through, past February:

1. Retire the “falling off the wagon” mindset

This one is huge. People don’t fail because they’re broken, they fail because they expect perfection. Learning to work out consistently is like learning a new language. Or picking up an instrument. Or honestly… parenting.

It takes reps. It takes messy middle moments. It takes recalibration. You will not nail your routines 100% of the time. You’re not supposed to.

When something doesn’t go the way you planned, treat it as data, not a character flaw. Use the setback to refine the plan instead of deciding that you “failed.”

2. Start where you actually are, not where Instagram says you should be

Every January, people try to overhaul their entire lives in a week. We know how that ends.

Low-hanging fruit wins every time.

Start with the behaviors that feel “almost too easy”:

One short workout
One veggie-forward meal
A 10-minute walk
A Sunday night fridge clean-out

Small wins build momentum, and momentum builds identity. That’s the stuff that keeps you going in June, not the “new year, new me” pressure-cooker energy. (And if you want help building a realistic plan for Q1, join me in my free workshop, more on that below.)

3. Get support (because willpower isn’t the strategy)

We know from behavior science that social support increases follow-through. You don’t need to do this alone.

Involve your partner, your roommates, your friends. Or come hang out in the LVL Workout Club or GSD Coaching, where you get structure, accountability, and a coach (Hi!) who actually knows how to guide sustainable change.

Community isn’t “nice to have.” It’s a game changer.

4. Be compassionate with yourself

If being a jerk to yourself worked, it would’ve worked by now. Self compassion is not about letting yourself off the hook.

It’s about:

Honest self-reflection
Accepting reality without shame
Taking aligned action, because you care about your future self

Research shows self-compassion increases persistence, reduces all-or-nothing thinking, and helps people stick with their goals longer. Be your biggest cheerleader. It pays off.