Instead of Making Resolutions, Set Small Goals Instead

According to the Pew Research Center, between 30% and 50% of Americans observe the self-improvement ritual of making New Year’s resolutions. The most common resolutions are saving more money or paying down debt, eating healthier, exercising more, losing weight, and finding a new job. According to research on the topic, fewer than half of resolutions are still continuously successful by June. Other surveys find success rates as low as 6 percent. Just because it’s the first of January doesn’t mean you will automatically feel motivated to start a new habit.

After this horrible, no-good, very bad year, making a New Year’s resolution for 2021 might be the last thing you feel like doing. On the other hand, experts say that writing out one or two specific, small, and attainable goals can help develop confidence and a sense of pride, improving your well-being.

Here are some strategies for setting and achieving your goals.

1.    Set meaningful goals. If you choose personally important goals and not because someone else wants you to achieve them, you are more likely to follow through. “You’re not going to sustain a behavior change unless you have internal motivation,” said Sara L. Dolan, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University. Consider pursuing goals that align with who you are and what you value.  Research has found that people with high self-control are more successful at goal pursuit because they choose goals that reflect their true selves. So, when setting your goals, consider what changes you’d like to make, but also why you want to make them. What makes you feel committed to reaching your goal?

2.    Choose “bite-size” goals. As Christine Caron writes in her NYTimes article, This Year, Try Downsizing Your Resolutions, the reason that many people don’t achieve their goals is that they’re too broad. If, for example, you set a goal of finding a new job in 2021, you are likely to lose motivation because it's too long-term. If you set a goal of updating your LinkedIn profile instead, you’re much more likely to feel a sense of accomplishment when you follow-through.

3.    Have if-then plans. According to social psychologist Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson, distractions play a significant role in why we don’t get things done. More than 100 studies have shown that deciding in advance when and where you will take specific actions to reach your goal can double or even triple your chances for success. If, like me, you dislike writing progress reports, an if-then plan would look something like this, “if my progress report is due in a week, I will spend thirty minutes working on it from 4:30 to 5:00 each day between now and the due date.” If your goal is to write a book, and an if-then plan would be, I will write for an hour Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:00 – 9:00 AM.”

4.    Create a personal board of directors. Research has repeatedly shown that sharing your goals with others makes it more likely you will follow through. Stating your goals make them real, and less likely, you will suffer the embarrassment of not following through if you know other people will ask you about them. Assembling a personal board of directors, a small group of people motivated to help you succeed, offers the perspective of others who have gone through similar experiences who can share their expertise, feedback, and emotional support.

5. Stay away from performance-avoidance goals. For a performance-avoidance goal, you view yourself in competition with others, and your main objective is not to fail. For example, you plan to run a 5K race, and your goal for the race is not to finish last. 

A study led by Andrees Stan of the University of Pitesti, Romania, found that students have higher test anxiety when pursuing performance-avoidance goals and trying not to look incompetent at school.

In other words, it’s stressful to be competitive and constantly afraid of failure. Add the stress of the pandemic, and it’s unrealistic to expect we’ll succeed at these kinds of goals.“When people are stressed out, trying to meet their goals generally becomes more difficult,” says Peter Gollwitzer of NYU. 

2020 has been a rough year, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself to meet your goals. Even if you don’t reach your goal as quickly as you had planned, it’s still important to celebrate that you’re working toward making a positive change.

What goals are you setting, and how do you plan to achieve them?