What It Really Takes to Follow Through on Your Goals in 2026, According to Experts
There’s a reason most people pick January 1 to start something new. A new year feels like a clean slate, and setting a goal with a full year ahead of you creates a rush of optimism. You can almost taste the outcome before you start. Unfortunately, optimism fades fast. “Studies show that 88 percent of people who set New Year resolutions fail them within the first two weeks,” Dr. Asim Shah, professor and executive vice chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Services at Baylor College of Medicine, says.
Beating those odds usually comes down to planning. “It’s like going on a trip,” says Jim Taylor, a sports psychologist and author of Train Your Mind for Athletic Success. “Going to Denver is a nice goal, but to get there, you need a map.” That map starts with a goal that is specific and realistic. “Get stronger” or “make more money” are vague wishes. “Lose 2 per week” or “knock 10 seconds off each mile of my next marathon” gives you something you can actually work toward, Taylor says.
The other key is making the goal personal and sustainable. Goals tied to your own health, confidence, or daily quality of life tend to stick better than those driven by outside pressure. Framing goals around what you want to build, like training for an event or establishing a routine, also makes consistency easier than focusing on what you want to eliminate. Pair that mindset with simple tracking and small checkpoints, and progress becomes something you can see, adjust, and build on over time.
How to Make Fitness and Wellness Resolutions Stick
Set a Date
If you want to ease back into fitness, signing up for a race or a competition is a good start. Mark the day on your calendar, and allow your training plan to work back from there. We’re not only talking about a full-on marathon or a championship HYROX race, either. A 5K in April could mean a 10K by fall and a half after that. Maybe a 26.2 or a new squat PR isn’t so far away.
Train Appropriately
There are tons of training plans to choose from. Keep in mind that the most common ways to sabotage your goal are overtraining and undertraining, Taylor says. A good program builds progressively to help you avoid injury and burnout. If you’re outperforming the plan—say, easily hitting times and distances—you can adjust up, but do so cautiously. The priority is arriving on race day healthy, finishing strong, and wanting to go again, Taylor says.
Join a Training Group
For additional staying power, join a group. Researchers found that University of Oxford rowers practicing together had heightened pain thresholds (something that begins to explain CrossFit). But if you’re a lone-wolf type motivated by continually besting yourself, stick with what works.
Share Your Goals
To share or not to share your goals? It comes down to what’ll get you out of bed and to your workout on a dreary morning. For some, tracking your miles with your friends on Strava is the key to success. But a study in Psychological Science found that when others acknowledge your intentions, all those “good job!” messages can create a premature sense of accomplishment, undermining your resolve to do it for real.
Have a Plan B
When race day comes around, have a backup plan. Even if you’ve spent months training faithfully, there are no guarantees. “If it’s 95 degrees and you cramp or bonk, having an alternative goal gives you something to hold on to,” Taylor says. “At a basic level, in endurance sports, the goal is getting through it.”
How to Set and Achieve Career Goals
Have a Realistic Timeline
The timeline you set is less about your motivation and has more to do with the realities of your particular industry. In general, plan for it to take six months to a year to switch jobs, says Jill Berquist, a certified career coach. Changes in personal behavior that can better your standing at work—improving collaboration, becoming a better communicator—can take three months to register with the higher-ups.
Enlist Help
It’s hard to go completely solo when it comes to your professional life. There are just too many outside forces involved, compared with the relative simplicity of a gym routine. To stay focused for the long haul, executive coach Annie Merkle suggests enlisting an accountability partner, such as a spouse or a trusted coworker, who's invested in you.
“Ask your career partner to check in weekly to see how you’re progressing,” Merkle says. How many times did you ask someone else for feedback? Did you speak up in the big board meeting? “It forces you to show your activity and results,” she says.
Talk to Your Boss
Loop in your boss, too. You may not want to tell him or her, “My goal is to have your job,” but do express that you want to expand your skills, have more responsibility, do more off-sites, etc. “It’s important for bosses to know what’s important to their employees to support them and their development,” Merkle says.
Do the Work
Because work goals tend to be complex, take a panoramic view of the landscape. “Think of the path to your goal as lily pads on a pond, rather than a bridge with steps that go straight across,” says Merkle. “You need to be able to be opportunistic.” Identify the gaps between where you are and where you want to be, and look for ways to fill them. “Can you do a course or seminar?” Merkle suggests. “Can you create and lead an initiative? There are lots of different ways to close gaps—but you don’t get anything if you don’t ask.”
Related: Biohacking Expert Swears by This Simple Daily Habit to Clear Your Mind and Reduce Stress
How to Improve Your Relationships This Year
Make Actionable Goals
Too often, we don’t think about interpersonal goals until there’s a problem. And fixing it requires another party that has a different set of goals and obligations. Vague vows to “spend more time” with a partner, family member, or friend fall into that category of wishes, not goals.
Create an Alert to Stay Accountable
Protect that time with a recurring date on both your calendars that doesn’t get skipped. “That’s the only way to make sure I don’t lose things like family and my personal health that keep me effective,” says Jordan Fliegel, co-founder of the fantasy sports site Draft.com. Through trial and error, he’s become a big believer in routines. This means scheduling not just workout time, but, for example, a regular chat with his grandma. “I call her the same day of the week, every week.”
Discuss Your Goals
If your goal is a calmer, more cohesive family life, consider adopting a method adapted from software developers. Bruce Feiler, author of The Secrets of Happy Families, suggests weekly “scrum” meetings, during which your family team talks over short-term goals.
The meetings can be quick. Essentially, you’re asking three questions:
- What’s going well this week?
- What do we need to work on?
- How can we all chip in to meet next week’s challenges?
Approaching family goals as collaborative and evolving projects encourages flexibility and idea sharing, and brings your team closer together.
And isn't that the goal?