On December 31, 2022, I sat down with a fancy set of pens I had received for Christmas and a piece of sun-faded construction paper. 12-year-old me solemnly resolved to eat more healthy food, exercise more often, and take a whole host of steps to embody the ideals I steadily trudged towards.
43% of people quit their resolutions by the end of January, according to The Ohio State University. I didn’t even get close to making it that long. By the end of the year, my paper was lost and my goals forgotten. Was I healthier? I have no idea. Was I happier? By what metric? It was impossible to fit my real actions during that year into the frame of my ideal future. I used to take my annual mission of improvement seriously, but as time went on, my perspective started to change. Those goals certainly weren’t “SMART” — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound — like the ones I made in the classroom, but they also felt lofty and unapproachable. Not knowing where to start, I never did, promising myself to get it done by December. Of course, my lack of success could be attributed to my own folly, but I share my failure with the 91% of people whose resolutions get forgotten, according to Ohio State University. For us, resolutions were a nice idea with a few key flaws.
Firstly, the time frame of a resolution is nearly impossible to get right. Say your goal is a difficult task, like deep-cleaning a space, reading a famous novel, or running a specific race. Once this goal is completed, you’re theoretically done for the year. If a task is accomplished in February or March, it seems almost pointless to have given it the yearly moniker. Moreover, when you complete your goal becomes completely irrelevant. You could have it done by mid-April or just be starting in early winter. In the real world, there is almost no task well suited to this broad “by next year” timeframe. However, the reverse can apply as well. Goals like “work out every day” and “never complain” hardly fit the time-frame. It can be impossible to finish on time or even know where to start. Resolutions like these are so far-fetched that even the most dedicated can struggle to reach the finish line.
On top of that, resolutions are too often outcome-based rather than process-based. Resolutions are usually too broad, meaning they have no clear success criteria, and not conducive to tangible progress because they have no clear starting place. They may be influenced by external factors; for example, a hopeful champion may lose in a competition because other teams performed particularly well or other factors out of their control. But more importantly, there are no steps along the way, only one overarching resolution, never to be achieved.
I should be clear that none of this is to say that goal-setting is bad. Setting goals is a great way to stay driven, promote better mental health, and improve academic and athletic performance. However, there is no reason that these goals should be so weighty, starting on one specific, arbitrary day. In 2026, why not cut the “maybe next year” procrastination and set achievable, action-based goals over shorter time frames? This strategy not only makes it easier to organize and keep track of goals, but makes them more rewarding by allowing little successes to come often.
This year, make it your resolution to set better goals, and for once, you won’t be set up to fail.