With less than two weeks left of 2025, I’m sure many of you are logging into Pinterest, collecting inspiring images we want to represent the coming year, and are googling “How to actually stick to my new year’s resolutions?”
Google has probably provided you link upon link, article upon YouTube video upon TikTok upon Reddit post. You’re scouring all the information, just trying to crack the secret code of what’s easy and fast. But that doesn’t exist. Reaching your new year’s resolutions shouldn’t come quick and easy. These are goals that are supposed to last a year. These resolutions should be changes within you, not just waking up and going to the gym one time. Or journaling one morning out of the 365 mornings you want to. Your resolutions also shouldn’t feel like burdens. You should feel happy about reaching your goals and happy about the journey being made towards them.
Here’s how I set New Year’s resolutions for myself that actually make me feel happier.
- Review on the current year
In my experience, reviewing what you’ve done this year helps you realize what you’re capable of, what you’ve already accomplished, and what you want to keep working on. Ask yourself these questions:
- What’s something that I did this year that I’m proud of?
- I graduated from college this year. I’m proud of this because of all the hard work I put into my classes, while maintaining my own finances and expenses. I want to continue feeling proud of my own learning and keeping my finances in a healthy place, which is important to keep in mind when making next year’s goals.
- What’s a habit, hobby, routine, or activity I did this year that I want to try again or keep doing?
- I have started crafting with friends, which has brought me so much happiness. I love making something with my own hands and I’m glad I have an activity to share with others.
- What emotions do I want to feel next year and what activities, media, foods, and people make me feel those emotions?
- I want to feel proud, joyful, and successful. Crafting, reading, posting on social media, finishing milestones in my writing projects, matcha and coffee, and my friends and boyfriend make me feel those things.
After you’ve identified the answer to those questions, keep those answers in mind as you make your goals. Instead of making goals you think you should set, like going to the gym every day or cutting out sugar, make goals that actually make you happy and feel full, instead of feeling guilty for not doing what you think you should be doing.
- Think of what is going to be happening next year in your life. What goals can help those events or moments go smoother?
This year, I knew I would be graduating, so many of my goals revolved around setting myself up well post-grad and getting started on the right foot. Now that I’m settled in my job and new town, my goals can shift to trying new things and establishing routines and habits.
- Set broad goals with specific and achievable sub-goals reviewed quarterly.
Being specific in your goal making is important because it allows you to have a goalpost in your mind of exactly where you want to end up. When you’ve hit the marker, you’ve done it, instead of a vague goal that you can never actually meet.
However, it’s important to be achievable when making those goals. For me, saying I want to write my novel 5 times a week is specific. But it’s not achievable right now, although I wish it was. My goal next year is to have a writing routine. That is specific but doesn’t tell me how to go forward. If I make a sub-goal, I can make it specific for me in the shorter term, and change my sub-goal every few months to reflect my hopeful progress, or simplify if I’m still having a hard time. For example, my sub-goal could be to write one time every week, with no care for how long or when. Then, after a few months, I can add specificity of a specific day of the week, or an amount of time I want to write each week. Building on my progress will help me achieve my overarching goal of establishing a writing routine, while not overwhelming myself in the beginning of the year.
- Make a vision board.
This step is optional, but as a creative and visual gal, I love to see my goals and be reminded of them all year. I love to create a vision board using Pinterest and Canva and set is as my laptop wallpaper for the entire year. Every time I open my laptop, I am reminded of my goals and things I’m working towards. Your vision board can include anything you want, but here are some ideas:
- Pictures representing your goals.
- Words of the emotions you want to feel in the year, such as “successful,” “cozy,” “happy,” “rested”
- Pictures of you previously doing the activities you want to focus harder on.
- Pictures of people and pets you love
- Pictures of places or things that inspire you
- Your favorite quotes
Here’s my vision boards from the last two years, for inspiration:
- Check back in with yourself and allow for readjustment
The hardest part, in my opinion, about making New Year’s Resolutions is the fact that these goals are supposed to last you a whole year. That’s a long time! Allowing yourself to be able to readjust, change your goals, or even decide partway through to not pursue one of those goals will help you be able to become who you want to be.
Partway through 2025, I realized my goal of getting a cat this year didn’t make sense with my situation right now. Although I still really wanted a cat, I decided it was ok for that not to happen this year and I can push it into next year, when it makes more sense.
Things come up too, unexpectedly. If you have a goal to save a certain amount of money, be okay with the thought of having to spend it on an accident or emergency. Don’t beat yourself up for things you can’t control.
Another one of my goals this year was to completely finish my novel. I had a plan for editing, and set out on my journey. It was a lot harder than I was expecting, and I ran into several blocks in my road. I adjusted my goal to be that I made significant progress on my novel, with subgoals of making major outlining plans and major edits for just act 1. Although this was sad for me to realize my original goal wouldn’t come true, I had to focus on what would be possible for me this year and to learn strategies to be more aware of an achievable timeline, so I can make sustainable goals going forward.
New Years is a great time to assess where you are in your life and who you want to be. Don’t let making goals be overwhelming or stressful. Your goals should lead you to feeling better about who you are, how you’re spending your time, and who you spend time with.
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