Make SMART New Years Resolutions This Year
Becca Samelson-Webb, M.A.
As we come to the close of 2025, you might be reflecting on what you have accomplished – or failed to accomplish – throughout the past year. Flipping the calendar to January 1st, you might begrudgingly begin to identify things you want to work on for a New Year’s Resolution. You’ll probably start off strong – avoiding caffeine for a few days or getting 1k steps in for a week. But at some point, something will come up that leaves you bed ridden – or you’ll have an early morning that requires a nice, warm cup of coffee. Then, you’re reluctant to start back up again.
When creating New Year’s resolutions, most people make a broad goal that encompasses things they want to work on; “eat healthy,” “get exercise,” “drink less caffeine”, etc. However, these goals are often too vague, broad, and impossible to fully complete. In order to create manageable resolutions for yourself, why not try the SMART goal method? Creating Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals will allow you to achieve your resolutions this year.
Specific
When you’re creating a resolution, you want to be specific with what you want to achieve. If you simply say, “be healthier,” that leaves you with endless options that may not help you achieve what you actually want. Instead, be more specific – are you wanting exercise more? Do you want to improve your stamina? Are you wanting to decrease the number of times you eat dessert? Finding a specific behavior to target can help you maintain your progress towards fulfilling your resolution.
Measurable
Once you specify your resolution, make sure it’s measurable in some way. For instance, if you say you want to “exercise more,” how do you measure that? You could create a goal for how many minutes a day you exercise, or you could specify what types of exercise you want to improve in. You could identify how many days per week you want to avoid desserts, or even how large of a serving you would want for dessert. Creating a measurable goal makes you much more likely to meet your resolution.
Attainable
It does not matter how specific or measurable your goal is; if you set too high a standard, you will NOT be able to achieve your goal! Make sure your resolution is actually attainable for you. For instance, if you have not exercised in months, it is highly unlikely you will be able to jog 5 miles and spend an additional 30 minutes in the gym every day. If you have a sweet tooth, completely cutting out sugar might seem impossible. Instead, set more realistic or attainable goals for yourself. Maybe start out with 1-2 miles for two days a week; maybe you stop snacking on cookies throughout the day. If you’re going to achieve your resolutions this year, you have to make sure they’re attainable.
Relevant
If your goal is not relevant to the problems you are experiencing, you’re less likely to accomplish them! For instance, if you’re already in good shape, you might not be motivated to change your workout routine. Why work to cut out dessert if you already have a balanced det? Make sure your goals are actually relevant to your life and that they can actually help solve the problems you’re facing.
Time-Bound
Finally, make sure your resolutions have some sort of time limit. There’s a few different ways of doing this. First, you could simply say, “By the end of this year, I will stop eating dessert.” Another way to do this is by creating a plan to create a behavior over time. For instance, you might aim to decrease desserts to 3 days a week by the end of January. By the end of February, you might want to eat dessert only on Fridays. Creating a timeline for your goals will lead you to be much more successful when meeting your resolutions.
If you’re wanting to create meaningful change, don’t be vague about what you want. The less specific or attainable your goals are, the more unlikely you will be to attain them. Instead, be SMART this year as your make your resolutions.