Crush Your New Year's Resolution.
As the year closes, many of us will start thinking about all of the things we would like to achieve in the new year. Around 83 million people will go as far as establishing New Year’s resolutions as a way to propel them toward their goals.
Chasing goals is a worthy endeavor, but how you go about the process will determine your long term success.
In this guide you’ll learn:
- What New Year's resolutions are and why most fail
- How SMART Goals can boost your success
- How to make an action plan to achieve your goals
- Alternatives to New Year's resolutions
What are New Year’s Resolutions?
A New Year’s resolution is a fancy way to say a new goal for the new year. What makes them unique is that they are most often started at the very beginning of the year, and they are usually intended to last the duration of the year.
Other than timing and duration, there are no differences between New Year’s resolutions and other types of goals.
My New Year’s Resolution Story
I haven’t committed to an official new year’s resolution since 2010.
That year, I was entering the first semester of my junior year of college and was starting out at a new university after spending several semesters at a junior college.
I had just moved into my first apartment as an independent adult, and was feeling good about my life.
All of the change happening at the time was motivating, so I decided to capitalize on the momentum to accomplish another goal.
That goal was distance running.
Set Up To Fail
I was exactly 2 years removed from quitting college football and was still hitting the gym 5 days per week. I was also participating in multiple recreational flag football leagues that kept me pretty active year round.
All this to say that I was in peak shape at 21 years old.
With no other physical feats left to tackle, I became restless and conjured up the goal of becoming a better distance runner – which was my weakest athletic area.
I had no plan for how I would hit my goal. I figured I would just use my free time to go for a run each week day.
Predictably, I failed miserably.
I didn’t manage to go on an actual run until several days into the new year, and only went on 2 runs that week.
Not surprisingly, the second run of that week would be my last for many years.
Most New Year’s Resolutions Fail
Studies examining New Year’s resolutions found that only 46% of people are still successful after six months. That number reduces even more as time progresses with only 19% of people still maintaining their goals after two years.
This means that nearly 80% of people will fall off the wagon over the long haul.
A national day has even been created to help us celebrate all the early year failures. This day is known as Quitters Day and it was coined out of recognition that the majority of people abandoned their New Year’s resolutions by the end of the second week in January.
Quitters Day doesn’t sound like something I want to take part in, but apparently there are some optimistic people who find a reason to love the day even if it is celebrating mediocrity.
Why New Year's Resolutions Fail
We now know the numbers and can see that they aren’t good. Most people will fail to reach their goals, but we aren’t exactly sure why.
Some say that the high failure rate is because of a lack of time, resources, or motivation. Yet, others may point out that people have an innate fear of success and therefore self-sabotage.
The reasons are probably too numerous and specific to the individual to totally nail down.
Rather than focusing on why they fail as a whole, I think a better strategy would be to do a bit of self examination to ensure that we have sufficient motivation accompanied by a solid plan.
A Fail Proof Plan
If you are like me, then you may accept the idea that failure as a part of doing anything worthwhile – but we certainly wouldn’t want to celebrate abandoning our goals after just two weeks.
If you fit into this camp, you are probably generally interested in actually accomplishing your goals. You may even have ambitious goals for the new year.
If so, you’ve come to the right place.
We’ve established that most New Year’s resolutions fail and the reasons why. Now let me introduce the plan that I use to accomplish more than 90% of my goals. The basics of this plan are the same ones that I used to help me climb out of $240,000 debt, so I know it works.
The outline of this plan is as follows:
- Guarantee your success before starting
- Plan for success using SMART Goals
- Develop an action plan to bring it all together
1) Guarantee Success Before Starting
My sister and I had a long standing tradition of issuing bets to each other over what amounted to trivial things for trivial amounts of money. We’d bet $5 for who was right about a small detail on something that happened many years ago, or would bet on who was more precise about a random number such as a city’s population.
Ironically, I would always win.
After many years of giving me her hard earned money, my sister stopped betting against me altogether. So, why did she finally wise up and quit?
My sister didn’t give up on betting against me because she kept losing. In fact, I don’t even think she realized it was happening so frequently. She gave up because I revealed my secret for always winning.
That secret was simple and here it is:
I would never make a wager with my sister that I wasn’t certain about winning.
Crazy stuff, huh?
And that’s that secret to not failing your New Year’s resolution. Let me explain further.
Using Edge to Help You Win
New Year’s resolutions are similar to placing bets with someone because each resolution you personally commit to comes with a certain level of risk. The difference is that with a resolution, you are betting against your future self.
My strategy versus my sister was simple in that I would never agree to a wager where I wasn’t all but certain to win. I usually accepted if I thought my odds of success were about 85% or better.
There is an actual term for this used by professional gamblers in the organized betting world called edge. Edge simply refers to the ability to find bets that have a higher probability of happening.
Edge is what give casinos the advantage over their customers, and the same principle can be deployed by you to have an advantage over your New Year’s resolution.
Highest Odds of Success
As you brainstorm potential resolutions, you will likely identify a few different options. Some of these options will be ‘nice to haves’ with no real meaning to you, while others will be super meaningful and impactful to your life.
At the same time, the potential resolutions will probably differ in terms of difficulty and complexity with fitting into your life.
With a bit of radical self honesty, you can sort out your options and increase your odds of success by asking yourself:
- Is this New Year’s resolution truly meaningful to me or is it just a ‘nice to have’?
- Is this goal something I realistically see myself committing to and succeeding at?
A simple rule of thumb would be to avoid New Year’s resolutions that fail to pass these two questions with absolute certainty.
This single step should boost your odds of successfully completing your New Year’s resolution to 85% or better.
Back to my running goal from earlier. I set myself up to fail with this goal because I spent almost no time really contemplating the personal meaning and difficulty of the task. The idea randomly popped into my head and I ran with it – no pun intended.
With a bit of reflection I would have recognized that I hated distance running and that the practice of running didn’t really fit into my lifestyle at that stage.
Both of these factors meant that I had very low odds of success and therefore had no edge.
2) Plan for Success with SMART Goals
After you’ve identified which goal is most likely to result in success, you are now in a position to move forward with making things more concrete with a specific plan. The first step to create your plan should be to write things down using the SMART goal framework.
SMART is an acronym that provides a structure for writing out your goals. The acronym is as follows:
- Specific: A specific goal is one that is clear and focused.
- Measurable: An exact quantity or magnitude gives your goal real meaning.
- Attainable: Goals where you have an edge are ones you can actually accomplish.
- Relevant: You are looking for a goal that is meaningful and impactful to you so you are motivated.
- Time-bound: Identify your timeline or completion date so you can properly orient your effort.
The great thing about using the SMART goal framework is that it is very easy to do and also provides a boost to your odds of success by nearly half.
SMART Goal Real Life Example
My goal for the new year is to read one book in the month of January. To that end, I’ve already selected the book which is Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller.
Irrational exuberance refers to the emotional excitement frequently experienced by investors that ultimately drives asset prices up much higher than their fundamental value.
The problem with irrational exuberance is that it leads to asset price bubbles which often burst. Predictably, bursting bubbles lead to panic selling, panic selling leads to price declines, and price declines lead to more panic selling until an asset’s price completely bottoms out.
This phenomenon has played out many times over the years. Most recently, we’ve seen bubbles form in the crypto market with bitcoin losing 75% of it’s value in less than a year. At the same time, real estate home prices appreciated at a record rate.
The question remains whether housing price increases were driven in any way by irrational exuberance or some other factors.
I would guess that they were, but I don’t actually know. This is where reading a book such as Irrational Exuberance comes in.
Since I am now debt free and have a strong grasp on my money, I am ready to start investing. To that end, I heard Warren Buffet loud and clear when he said “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.”
Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1.
Robert Shiller - a New York Times best selling author and Nobel Prize winning economist called both the tech and housing bubbles and now cautions that the signs of irrational exuberance are emerging again.
Shiller argues that psychologically driven market volatility exists in all markets and discusses the ins and outs, and how everyday investors can still win.
I’m reading Irrational Exuberance to help me understand the mechanisms at play and prepare me to be a disciplined investor who stays above the madness of the crowd as they ride the wave of asset bubbles.
I’d say this one is mandatory reading for any serious investor who wants to protect their wealth.
But, without further ado, here is what my exact SMART goal looks like for this resolution:
- Specific: I will read Irrational Exuberance in the month January.
- Measurable: 1 full book by end of month.
- Attainable: Yes. With nightly reads + weekend sessions, I can read the 392 pages. Breaks down into 13 pages per day minimum pace.
- Relevant: Finance is my favorite topic. Will help me with investing. Good for the blog.
- Timing: 1 month beginning January 1st.
Now it’s your turn. Take out pen and paper and actually write down your goal using the above framework as an outline.
3) Action Plans Bring it All Together
At this point, your odds of success should be greater than 90% because you’ve selected a goal that gives you a personal edge of winning and have also written it down into a SMART goal.
If properly executed, you should be able to envision success and feel a good deal of excitement to get started.
Unfortunately, visions of success and excitement are necessary components, but can quickly be lost if not properly capitalized on with focused action.
A lot of people get hung up and fail at this point in the process. They know what they want to do and have the best intentions of doing it. The major problem is that people often lack concrete steps that outline how the will go about accomplishing their goal.
This is where the action plan comes in.
How to Develop an Action Plan
For starters, nearly any plan would be better than no plan at all – but it’s best to get things right the first time. The level of detail and complexity of your New Year’s resolution action plan will depend on the depth of your goal.
Step 1: Start the process by taking it back to grade school and writing out the who, what, when, where, why, and how details of what it would take to accomplish your goal.
Once you have this list, you have your plan.
Step 2: The next step is to simply refine and organize your plan using the following steps:
- Create an ordered task list. Identify specific tasks and timeframes by combining the what + when. Take your list of items in the what column and order them based on what needs to happen first and apply information such as specific dates, deadlines, or cadences.
- Add who and where to your task list. The goal here is to see who needs to do what and the specific places involved.
- Bring it all together with a description using the how.
From here, you just need to ensure that you tick off each item before the deadline and you are well on your way to success.
Example
- Who: Me and my buddy Warren Buffet.
- What:
- Running 1-3 miles, 3 days per week
- Buy running shoes
- Agree to cadence
- Select routes
- Download running app
- Stretch and exercises
- Download playlists
- Download random number generator
- When:
- January 9 start date
- Mon, Wed, Sat cadence
- 6am start time
- Where
- Routes pending
- Sporting good store
- How: Warren and I will meet up on a Monday, Wednesday, Saturday cadence that alternates through each route per day (track, indoor, neighborhood). We will run a distance of 1-3 miles to be selected at random using the number generator.
| Task | Deadline/Timing | Who | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Planning session with Warren |
January 2nd |
Me + Warren |
Warren’s place |
Which days will we run? |
|
Select routes |
January 2nd |
Me + Warren |
Warren’s house |
What are the best routes?
|
|
Buy running shoes |
January 6th |
Me |
Sporting goods |
Only 1 store has my size. Call ahead. |
|
Download playlist |
January 8th |
Me |
Home |
Apple music. |
|
Download running app |
January 8th |
Me |
Home |
Nike + |
|
Download number generator |
January 8th |
Me |
Home |
Check app store. |
|
Stretch and exercise |
Ongoing |
Me |
Home or gym |
Bookmark 15 min Youtube video. |
|
Meet and run |
Monday / Wed / Saturday? |
Me + Warren |
Selected routes |
Proposed cadence: track, indoor, neighborhood. Confirm with Warren.
|
From here, you just need to ensure that you tick off each item before the deadline and you are well on your way to success.
New Year’s Resolution Alternatives
The plan outlined above should put your odds of success at greater than 90%, but you should not underestimate the level of risk involved in this final 10% because the best laid plans and intentions are still vulnerable to life’s ebbs and flows.
That said, my awareness of my own shortcomings is the reason why I don’t usually attempt traditional resolutions. Instead, I take an alternative approach to goal achievement that I find to be more effective.
I will now introduce that process to you for your consideration.
Here are a few additional strategies that I personally use to accomplish most of my goals.
Month Long Challenges
I believe that a significant factor in the high failure rate of New Year’s resolutions is their long durations.
Logically speaking, goals with longer durations introduce more opportunities for failure. Further, whenever willpower is involved in something, the risk of experiencing burnout is also present.
Imagine how easy it would be to achieve the goal of giving up your favorite food for a single day. Now imagine how difficult this same task would be if you had to give it up for an entire decade.
Seems nearly impossible and downright miserable.
This is why I like to implement month long challenges in my own life. Picking goals where I have an edge, and committing to them for a month usually ensures that I never fail at hitting my target and I can always extend things if I enjoy the results.
At the time of writing, I’m working through a no alcohol goal that has lasted for more than 4 months (131 days to be exact).
I was never a huge drinker which means this was a relatively easy feat, so I recently extended the target to a full year.
Epic stuff, right?
Take a Pass on the New Year’s Resolution
While I would never suggest that you not pursue your goals in life, I think it’s perfectly okay to skip those New Year’s resolutions.
The New Year’s date is generally meaningless and you can easily start your goals at a different date. Plus, this would be my preferred route to go if I were not in a position to succeed.
There are many moving pieces in life that could make incorporating a new change difficult, so it’s much better to pass on launching into a goal over starting and failing.
The reason for this is because you want to protect your self-esteem at all costs and constantly experiencing failure is not something you want deep in your psyche.
Learn to become a winner by learning to plan for success with intentionality. Planning for success, and moving when ready is a much better approach than winging it in life.
Ready, Set, Go!
Alright, so we’ve arrived at the big moment. You are ready to take action.
Being motivated, selecting the right goal, and having a plan is more than half the battle.
But, now the hard part starts.
Sticking to your goal will be a challenge no matter what, but you should be much better prepared than the average person who stumbles into their resolutions and then falls off the wagon a short while later.
Motivation will come and go along the path which means that the most important thing you can do is be persistent.
Persistence simply means keep going no matter what.
Ready, set, go – you can do this!
p.s. drop me a comment and let me know which goals you are pursuing this new year!
8 Responses
I don’t set New Year’s resolutions. However, I do spend part of my birthday each year evaluating what I did well. I also look at what I did badly. I then decide which things will no longer be a part of my life as I grow older. It’s a similar concept but I have more success this way. I’ve never put it in the frame of S.M.A.R.T goals, but I may try that this year.
You can always learn from others and I just learned something new from you which I will incorporate into my own life. I think this is a great way to spend a birthday – with a little bit of reflection and change. Thank you for sharing this valuable lesson with me!
Now this was elite, very simple and makes sense. I will join you on reading a book in the month of January, my book is a contested Caribbean indigeneity. Although reading books is not my strong suit, this is something I want to improve and this book is something I’m very interested in, which is cultural history of Puerto Rico (where my family is from).
Wow this book has a beautiful cover! I’m adding it to my wish list. I love that you are learning more about your heritage – which builds that sense of community. Reading things we are interested in is so important. I’ve never finished a book that I didn’t like – because why lol
You will have to invite me to Puerto Rico one day!
Exactly! Growing up here, we get taught about America, of course. And other major historic events. But sometimes I feel at a loss when I don’t know things about the culture that is closest to me, I feel like I am more doing this for the generations to come, I do not want my heritage to be lost throughout time.
Of course, that’d be awesome. If you’re ever in Charlotte hit me up!
Keeping you heritage alive. I love that!
I like the idea of applying SMART to goals for myself this year. I have never attempted any New Years resolutions but I do feel that I have to change my mindset in 2023 after the life changes I’ve experienced in 2022. Reading this post and applying SMART will make me more accountable to follow through so I would like to challenge myself in this next year.
That’s awesome! What goals are you thinking about aiming at?
Let me know if you are looking for an accountability partner!