60 New Year's resolution ideas, plus a plan to actually keep them

New Year's resolutions have a bad reputation. Everyone knows someone who joined a gym on January 2 and stopped going by Valentine's Day. But the studies that actually followed people through the year tell a more hopeful story: people who commit to a change on New Year's do far better than people who wait for "someday", especially when the resolution is specific and comes with a plan for the bad days.

You can build your list right here in five minutes: pick up to 3 resolutions (or write your own), jot down the first step you'll take this week, print the list if you like having it on the fridge and, if you want, start a daily Duer challenge to keep it going. Further down you'll find 60 resolution ideas by area, how to turn a vague goal into one you can act on, and what to do when you slip, which is where most resolutions are won or lost.

Why New Year's resolutions fail (and what the data really says)

You've probably seen the claim that only 8% of people keep their resolutions. We couldn't trace it to a published study, so we won't repeat it as fact. Here's what the published research does show:

• Many drop off early, but not everyone. In a classic study that followed 200 resolvers, psychologist John Norcross found that 77% were still keeping their resolution after one week, 55% after one month, 40% after six months and 19% after two years.
• Making a resolution helps. In a later study from the same team, 46% of New Year's resolvers were still succeeding after six months, compared with 4% of people who wanted to change a similar problem but didn't make a resolution.
• After a year, more than half say they made it. In one of the largest experiments on resolutions (1,066 people in Sweden, published in PLOS ONE in 2020), 55% of those who answered the one-year follow-up considered themselves successful.
• How you phrase it matters. In that same study, resolutions framed as something you do ("eat fruit at breakfast") worked better than ones framed as something you avoid ("quit sugar"): 58.9% versus 47.1%.

Americans aren't giving up on the tradition, either. In a Pew Research Center survey from January 2024, three in ten U.S. adults said they'd made at least one resolution, and nearly a month in, 59% of them said they had kept all of their resolutions so far. Put together, the data says the problem isn't making resolutions. It's how we make them. The same mistakes show up every year:

• They're vague. "Get in shape" doesn't tell you what to do on Tuesday at 7 p.m., so on Tuesday at 7 p.m. you do nothing.
• There are too many. Ten resolutions compete for the same time and energy. The couch wins.
• They run on January motivation. The first Monday of the year everything feels possible. By week three, with work piling up and the holidays over, the plan has to work even when you don't feel like it.
• There's no plan for slipping. Missing one day feels like total failure, and the whole thing gets dropped: "Well, I blew it. Next year."
• They're done alone. In the Swedish study, the group asked to name one person who would support them through the year, with monthly check-ins and tips for getting past obstacles, was the only group that did significantly better than the other two.

How to write a resolution you'll actually keep

1. 1

   Turn the outcome into a behavior

   "Get in shape" or "be happier" are outcomes you don't fully control. Ask what you'd do differently on an ordinary Tuesday if you were already there: that's your resolution. "Walk 30 minutes after dinner." "No phone at the dinner table."

2. 2

   Say what you'll do, not what you'll stop

   Instead of "stop wasting money", try "check my spending every Sunday and move whatever's left to savings". That's exactly the difference the Swedish study measured.

3. 3

   Start ridiculously small

   Month one isn't about results. It's about making the behavior exist. Two minutes of reading, five squats, one line in a journal. You can turn it up once you no longer have to think about it.

4. 4

   Decide when and where

   Phrase it as "when X happens, I'll do Y": "When I get home from work, I'll put on my running shoes before I sit down." Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer calls these implementation intentions: they tie the goal to a specific situation, so acting doesn't depend on remembering.

5. 5

   Make progress visible

   A streak, an X on the calendar, a chart on the fridge. What you see every day is easier to keep than what lives only in your head. That's what a habit tracker is for.

6. 6

   Bring someone in

   Tell one specific person and agree to check in at the end of every month. Or do it together: a shared challenge has just the right amount of pressure.

7. 7

   Plan for the bad day

   Decide now what you'll do when the day goes sideways: a minimum version (five minutes instead of thirty) and a never-miss-twice rule.

60 New Year's resolution ideas by area

Every idea below is already written as something you can do. Use them as a starting point and adjust the numbers to your life: "8,000 steps a day" means something very different for someone at a desk all day than for someone on their feet.

Fitness and movement

• Walk 30 minutes a day, even if it's two 15-minute walks.
• Go from not running at all to running a 5K without stopping with Couch to 5K in 6 Weeks.
• Do bodyweight strength training at home twice a week.
• Stretch for 10 minutes before bed.
• Always take the stairs up to the third floor.
• Hold a plank every morning and add 5 seconds each week, or follow the 30-Day Plank Challenge.
• Try a new activity every quarter: swimming, pickleball, climbing, dance.
• Get off the bus one stop early, or park at the far end of the lot, and walk the rest.

Food and sleep

• Eat a breakfast with fruit instead of skipping it on busy mornings.
• Cook at home four nights a week.
• Meal prep lunches on Sunday and pack them three days a week.
• Try one new recipe with beans or lentils every week.
• Go to bed at the same time on weeknights.
• No coffee after 2 p.m.
• Turn off screens 30 minutes before bed and read a paper book.

Mind and mood

• Meditate for 10 minutes a day with Learn to Meditate in 21 Days.
• Write three lines in a journal every night, or follow the 30-Day Journaling Challenge.
• Write down three good things about each day with the 21-Day Gratitude Challenge.
• When a worry keeps looping, write it down and decide on one next step (Stop Ruminating in 30 Days).
• Take a 5-minute breathing break at the end of the workday.
• Get 10 minutes of daylight every morning.
• Say no to one commitment a week that you don't want.
• Book an appointment with a therapist if you've been feeling low for a while and keep putting it off.

Money

• Move 10% of every paycheck to savings the day it lands.
• Do a no-spend January: essentials only for 30 days with the 30-Day No Spend Challenge.
• Finish the 52-week savings challenge.
• Review your spending every Sunday in 15 minutes.
• Cancel every subscription you didn't use last month.
• Build an emergency fund that covers one month of expenses.
• Wait 48 hours before any purchase that wasn't on your list.
• Call your internet, phone and insurance providers once a year to ask for a better rate.

Learning

• Read 12 books: one a month.
• Practice a new language for 15 minutes every day.
• Finish that online course you started and abandoned.
• Learn to cook five new dishes from scratch.
• Play an instrument for 15 minutes a day.
• Once a week, swap the music on your commute for a podcast about something you want to learn.
• Take a CPR and first aid class.

Work, school and productivity

• Beat procrastination with 25-minute focus blocks (Stop Procrastinating in 30 Days).
• Plan your week every Sunday in 20 minutes.
• Check email twice a day instead of all day.
• End each workday by writing down tomorrow's top three tasks.
• Ask your manager for a conversation about your growth.
• Update your resume and LinkedIn before March.
• Study with spaced repetition instead of rereading your notes.
• Spend one hour every Saturday on a side project.

Relationships, home and free time

• Call your parents or grandparents once a week.
• Have one screen-free dinner a week with your family or partner.
• Plan something with friends once a month.
• Declutter one drawer or corner of your home every week.
• Charge your phone outside the bedroom at night.
• Get out into nature once a month.
• Volunteer once a month.

Unique resolution ideas to break the pattern

• Learn to swim, if you never did.
• Take a solo trip.
• Write one handwritten letter a month.
• Cook the family recipe nobody wrote down, and write it down.
• Go a whole month without buying clothes.
• Take one photo every day for the whole year.
• Grow something and keep it alive until December.

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@ZachHighley ↗

How many resolutions to make, and how to choose

Fewer is better. Every behavior change takes attention and energy, and spreading them across too many fronts usually ends with none of them sticking. That's why the tool above caps you at three. If this is your first year taking resolutions seriously, start with one.

The most common resolutions look alike everywhere. In Pew's 2024 survey, 79% of Americans who made a resolution said at least one was about health, 61% about money, 57% about relationships, 55% about hobbies and 49% about work or career. In the Swedish study, the top categories were physical health, weight loss and eating habits. A common resolution isn't a bad one, but it should be yours. Answer these questions in writing before you commit:

Not sure where to start? Do the wheel of life first: the area you score lowest that also matters most to you is usually the best candidate for your first resolution.

Your January plan, week by week

January has the most momentum of any month and the most quitting, too. This plan is built to get your resolution through the first four weeks:

1. Before January 1: set the stage. Write your resolutions as specific behaviors, decide on the first step and get what you need ready (shoes, book, savings account, app). Tell one person.
2. Week 1: minimum version. Do only the first step each day, even if it feels too easy. The goal is to make the behavior exist, not to impress anyone.
3. Week 2: lock in the time. Notice which moment of the day made it easiest and make that your fixed anchor: "after my morning coffee", "as soon as I get home".
4. Week 3: the hard week. The excitement wears off and the excuses show up. Use your backup plan: the five-minute version and never two days in a row without it.
5. Week 4: review and adjust. Look at your streak. If it was easy, turn it up a little; if it was a struggle, scale it back without guilt. At the end of January, decide whether to add your second resolution.

What to do when you slip (because you will)

Missing a day isn't the end of a resolution. It's part of the process. In Norcross and Vangarelli's two-year follow-up, more than half (53%) of the people who did keep their resolution slipped at least once along the way. And in habit research from University College London, missing a single opportunity now and then didn't derail the process: the behavior kept getting more automatic afterward. The same research found that it took an average of about 66 days for a habit to become automatic, with a lot of variation between people, which is a lot longer than the famous 21 days.

And if it falls apart completely, don't wait for next January 1. Wharton researchers Dai, Milkman and Riis showed in 2014 that Google searches for "diet", gym visits and commitments to goals all rise after any "fresh start" date: the start of a week, a month or a semester, a birthday, a holiday. Any of those days works for starting again.

• Don't make it a verdict on who you are. You missed a day. That doesn't make you someone with no willpower.
• Use the two-day rule. You can miss one day; the next day you do it, even if it's the minimum version.
• Find the specific reason. Was it the timing, being tired, something unexpected? Fix that, not your ambition.
• Scale down before you quit. Ten minutes you keep doing beats an hour you won't repeat.

Resolutions for students, couples and families

For students

Resolutions about how you study work better than resolutions about grades: use spaced repetition, leave your phone in another room for 25-minute blocks, keep a regular bedtime during finals. If getting started is the hard part, Stop Procrastinating in 30 Days works on exactly that.

For couples

Pick one shared resolution and one individual resolution each. The shared one could be a screen-free dinner every week or saving for a trip together. The individual ones belong to each of you, and the other person's only job is to ask how it's going, not to coach.

For families with kids

One resolution for the whole family, posted somewhere everyone sees it, with a check mark for every day you do it: read 15 minutes before bed, take a Sunday walk, cook together on Fridays. It helps kids to see their progress and to have something small to celebrate when the month is done.

New Year's resolutions FAQ