Let’s dive into the research and explore  why we set New Year’s resolutions,  

why most of them fail, and  what we can do to succeed.

Dr. Jubbal, Medschoolinsiders.com.

Every year, about half of us commit  to a New Year's Resolution. In fact,  

it is so ingrained in our culture  that even usa.gov posts articles  

detailing the most common New Year’s  Resolutions and tips to keep them.

But what makes New Year’s special? After all,  it’s just like any other day of the year, right?

Let’s start with why we set New  Year’s Resolutions in the first place.

When we want to change something in our lives,  we usually start on a temporal landmark - a day  

that holds some sort of importance.  It can be universally significant,  

like the start of the week or month, or personally  significant, like the beginning of a semester,  

the first day of a job, or the day  you get married. But out of all the  

temporal landmarks throughout the year, New  Year’s is arguably the biggest of them all.

Research has shown that people are more likely to  adopt changes on a temporal landmark than during  

any other time of the year. One study concluded  that, relative to baseline, people are 63%  

more likely to commit to their goals  at the beginning of a new week, 24%  

more likely at the beginning of a new month, and  145% more likely at the beginning of a new year.

The authors refer to this phenomenon as  the “fresh start effect.” They hypothesize  

that temporal landmarks help us create  psychological divisions between our past  

self and our present self, motivating  us to pursue our goals and aspirations.

Essentially, temporal landmarks make us  feel like we have a clean slate, giving  

us a chance to redefine ourselves. But setting  goals is easy, keeping them is the hard part.

Interestingly enough, setting a New Year’s  Resolution has also been shown to increase  

the likelihood of success compared  to setting goals later in the year.  

One study compared resolution success rates  between people who started at the start of  

the year versus those who started at a  later time. They found that at 6 months,  

46% of the resolvers reported continued  success versus only 4% of non-resolvers.

But if New Year’s is the  best time to make a change,  

why is it still so hard to keep our resolutions?

The reason that most New Year's Resolutions fail  

is simple: behavior change is hard. We  are creatures of habit and prefer to do  

things that don’t require a lot of effort,  which usually means doing nothing at all.

Making any kind of change in your  life is going to be difficult,  

because if it were easy, then you’d  probably already be doing it by now.  

But if you never change your behaviors,  you’ll never change your outcomes.

To make things even more difficult, the  types of New Year’s Resolutions that we  

usually set for ourselves don’t just require  changing our behavior for a period of time,  

but rather changing it permanently.

If you want to lose weight, for  instance, it’s not a matter of  

eating right and exercising for a couple of  months before reverting back to your old ways.  

Losing weight and keeping it off requires  a permanent change to your lifestyle.  

Anything less and you’ll just find yourself  back at square one a few months down the road.

So now that we know why it’s so difficult,  

what can we do to make lasting changes  and keep our New Year’s Resolutions?

The first component to a successful New  Year’s resolution is having a clear end goal.  

Oftentimes the resolutions that we  set for ourselves are too vague.

“I want to lose weight.”

“I want to get healthy”

“I want to eat better”

These resolutions don’t tell us a lot.  How much weight are you trying to lose?  

5-, 10-, 20-, 100lbs? What about your  health are you trying to improve?  

Your cardiovascular fitness? Your muscle mass?  A certain blood marker? What types of foods are  

you trying to incorporate into your diet? What  types of foods are you trying to cut back on?

When our goals are too vague, we don’t have  a clear picture of what exactly we’re working  

towards, which makes it much harder to figure  out what steps we need to take to achieve them.

What you want to do is set S.M.A.R.T  resolutions. You want them to be specific,  

measurable, attainable,  realistic, and time-specific.

Ask yourself these questions:

What exactly am I trying to accomplish?

How will I determine if I’m making  progress or if I’ve completed my goal?

Do I have the resources to accomplish this goal?

Am I willing and able to accomplish this goal?

And what is my deadline to accomplish this goal?

If you can answer these questions, it becomes  much easier to map out the steps to get there.

Let’s say your goal is to lose 24 lbs in 6  months. To accomplish this, you’ll have to  

lose 4 lbs a month, which equates to an average of  1 lb per week. If you weigh yourself every week,  

you’ll know whether or not you’re making progress  towards your goal. And at the end of 6 months,  

you’ll know whether you’ve  achieved your goal or not.

This method of defining your goals has the added  benefit of ensuring that your goals are realistic  

as well. If you do this exercise and find that  you’d have to lose 20 lbs/week to accomplish your  

goal, you’ll know that it’s unrealistic and can  reassess your goal or your timeline accordingly.

This brings me to the next point.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

On New Year’s, we are often highly motivated,  which also makes us overly ambitious. We  

want to do great things but overestimate our  ability to actually follow through with them.

The problem with ambitious goals is that  they can be incredibly intimidating. It  

can feel like there is an insurmountable  mountain ahead of you and there’s no way  

that you’ll ever reach the top. The result is  that you end up feeling discouraged and quit.

Instead of trying to accomplish a monumental  goal, break it down into smaller subgoals that  

you are certain you can achieve. Research has  shown that people exhibit greater motivation  

to accomplish a goal when they focus on  small subgoals instead of the overall goal.

If your goal is to become a doctor, for  instance, don’t focus on big picture things  

like getting into medical school or getting into  residency. Start smaller than that - much smaller.

The first step in becoming a doctor is to get  good grades. So how do you do that? You start  

by studying more effectively. And how do you study  more effectively? You might start by doing 2 hours  

of Pomodoro per day. Then once you do that you  work up to 3 hours. Then 4 hours and so on.

Or maybe you start doing flashcards, in which  case you might start with 10 flashcards a day,  

then work up to 20, 30, etc. The trick  is to start small and slowly build.

As you accomplish these smaller  goals, your confidence will build,  

fueling your motivation to  accomplish the next goal.

Over time, these small accomplishments  will add up. And before you know it,  

that large goal will seem a lot less intimidating  

because you’ll already have made a  great deal of progress towards it.

Next, don’t rely solely on motivation.  Focus on building systems instead.

As James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, puts it,  

“you do not rise to the level of your goals.  You fall to the level of your systems.”

The first step is to make your  environment work with you.  

Organize your surroundings in such a way  that there are fewer steps between you  

and the good behaviors, and more  steps between you and the bad ones.

If you’re trying to eat better, put  healthy, low-calorie choices front and  

center in your fridge and put high-calorie  junk foods up in a cupboard out of reach.

The more accessible the healthy options are,  the more likely you will be to reach for them.  

Conversely, the less accessible the bad  options, the less tempted you will be.

Next, set reminders. Write things on your  calendar. Post sticky notes around the house.  

Set alerts on your phone. The more  you are reminded of your resolution,  

the more likely it is to stick. Research  has shown that even the simple act of  

writing out your goals can increase your  chances of success. This effect is even  

greater if you can send written updates  to a friend to keep you accountable.

This brings me to my next point, get  an accountabilibuddy. Having someone  

there to make sure you’re staying  on track can make a huge difference  

in sticking to your New Year’s resolution.

If you want to take it up a notch, you  can even join a community of people with  

similar goals. Being a part of a strong community  can greatly influence your ability to change  

your behaviors. As you build relationships  with the other members of the community,  

you become more willing to learn, more open  to new ideas, and more willing to change.

And being part of a community can  strongly influence your identity.  

Remember, if your resolution involves  making a lasting change in your life,  

then you have to embrace it fully and  let it become a part of your identity.

Instead of saying, “I want to  get an A in organic chemistry”,  

tell yourself, “I want to become an  excellent student.” Or instead of saying,  

“I want to quit smoking,” tell  yourself, “I’m not a smoker.”

Decide what kind of person you want to be,  

and then prove to yourself that you’re  that person through your behavior.

Every time you write a page, you’re a  writer. Every time you go to the gym,  

you’re an athlete. Every time  you bike, you're a cyclist.

The secret is repetition. The more you repeat  that behavior, the more you reinforce the  

identity associated with it, and the closer you  become to believing in that identity yourself.

But even with the perfect plan, strong systems,  good social support, and loads of motivation,  

you will eventually have setbacks. Nobody  will adhere to their New Year’s resolution  

100%. Having setbacks isn’t what will determine  your success though, how you respond to them is.

It’s never the first mistake  that ruins you, but rather,  

the spiral of repeated mistakes  that follows. As James Clear says,  

“missing once is an accident. Missing  twice is the start of a new habit.”

A simple rule that has served me  well is to “never miss twice.”

If you miss a day at the gym, pick it back up  the next day. If you have a calorie-dense meal,  

don’t wait until tomorrow to start your  diet again, start with the next meal.

Too often we adopt a “what the hell” mindset  and use one setback as an excuse for additional  

setbacks, and before you know it you’ve completely  fallen off the wagon. Instead of kicking the  

can further and further down the road when it  falls, pick it up immediately and move forward.

If you’re committing to a New  Year’s resolution this year,  

remember to stick with it. Keep defining  and re-adjusting your plan. Keep creating  

and refining your systems. Keep reminding  yourself of the person that you want to become.

If you can do that, then I’m certain  that this will be a great year.

Thank you all so much for watching.  If you enjoyed this video,  

be sure to check out 4 Things You’re  Doing Wrong During the Holidays or the  

Ultimate Guide to Building a New Habit.  Much love and I’ll see you guys there.