Written by Amelia Hancock
Illustrated by April Yang
As we enter the New Year, I’m sure many of you have already thought about your 2026 resolutions. My TikTok For You Page is full of people showing off their new journals, filled with lists of unrealistic goals, and step-by-step guides for a 2026 rebrand. Now I, for one, cannot judge: I’ve already dyed my hair, bought a new wardrobe, and planned a vision board society event. But it does make me wonder: how many of our resolutions are actually new? Every year, I tell myself I’ll work out regularly, eat healthier, and drink more water. And it seems that it’s not just me. According to Exercise.com, gyms average 25-50% more revenue in January compared to other months, while the Institute of Alcohol Studies reports a noticeable dip in sales for the alcohol industry due to ‘Dry January’. We see these trends year on year, but how long do these changes in our behaviour actually last?
By the time February arrives, most of us have quietly let our resolutions slip. The Harris Poll found that around half of respondents had already given up on their resolutions by this point, while an InsideOut Mastery article found that 23% had given up in the first week. This pattern also shows up in specific goals. Strava, a running and cycling app, identified the second Friday in January, labelled as ‘Quitters Day’, as the day that most people abandoned their fitness goals.
So why do our resolutions fall apart so quickly? One element of the problem is that January makes us so widely ambitious. We don’t set small goals; we decide we need an entire personality overhaul. We suddenly decide we are the type of person that wakes up at 6 am, lifts weights, cooks every meal from scratch, and never parties again—all because the year has changed. Somehow, we forget the lack of time and deadlines in our lives when we set our goals. As normal life resumes and as motivation dips, or a single workout is missed, the entire goal feels broken. So when a resolution is framed as an all-or-nothing promise for 365 days, one bad week can be enough to make us give up altogether.
So, how do you make a resolution actually stick? Recently, I’ve noticed more people turning to monthly goals. January might be the month you try buying no new clothes, before trying something new altogether in February. Or perhaps the aim is to get more steps in, so start with a goal of 7,000 a day in January and increase it in each subsequent month. A resolution doesn’t need to be a jump into the deep end. Monthly goals don’t ask you to become an entirely different person; they allow you to try something new with a realistic endpoint. In the age of social media and constant reinvention, 2026 might benefit from a little more patience.
