Making New Year’s Resolutions allows you to set goals for yourself for the upcoming year — but, unfortunately, many people with grand plans to improve their lives end up failing at their objectives. According to Drive Research, just 9% of people who make resolutions actually stick to them throughout the year, while a shocking one in four adults give up their efforts by the end of the first week in January. By the end of that month, the number is up to 43%.
If you want your resolutions to actually come true in 2025, you’ll have to take a different approach than most. You can’t just set a goal and hope you’ll stick to it, but you instead need to follow some proven methods for achieving success. Here’s what you should do to make that happen.
Write down your goals
If you want to be successful at your resolutions, the first key step is writing them down. One study by a psychology professor showed that 76% of participants who wrote down their goals and action steps were successful at achieving their objectives. Writing down goals allows you to both clearly define your objectives and to hold yourself accountable.
Be as specific as possible
When you set your objectives, you should also create SMART Goals, as you’re more likely to succeed in achieving them. SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
You don’t want to just say, for example, that you want to pay off debt this year or that you are hoping to invest more. Instead, you need to specify the details like exactly how much debt and by what time frame.
If you use specific numbers, your goal is measurable so you can make sure you’re on track to achieving it. If you set a specific time deadline, you’ll have a clearer picture of what you must do each week and each month. And if you pick a goal you are excited about achieving, you can stay motivated to make it happen.
Hold yourself accountable
The study referenced above also found that providing weekly progress reports to a friend was helpful in making sure that goals were accomplished. This theory has worked not just in finance but in the health space as well, which is why programs like Weight Watchers exist. If you have someone to report to, you’re far more likely to stick to the goals you set for yourself since you most likely aren’t going to want to admit failure.
Partners, friends, or parents can be good accountability buddies, so find someone you trust and set up weekly check-ins to support and motivate each other.
Automate the process
Research has found that when companies make contributing to a 401(k) the default, people are more likely to keep contributing to their accounts. The reality is that most people have a status quo bias. Once something is set in place and it becomes more work to change it, they’ll often stick to it.
You can use this to your advantage. Once you have set a financial goal for the year, make it happen automatically. If you want to pay an extra $100 a month to your debt, for example, set up the automatic payment on payday. If you want to contribute more to your retirement accounts, sign up to make it happen. Once you’ve done that, you’re less likely to change it.
By following these steps, you can hopefully achieve all of the financial objectives you’ve set for yourself. You can end 2025 richer and happier for your success.
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