New Year, Same You? 10 Reasons Why You’ll Probably Fail Your New Year’s Goals

New year —> great intentions —> temporary change —> back to old habits —> same outcomes.

Sound familiar? The same story every year, rinse and repeat.

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91% of people fail their new year’s goals and 2 in 3 people abandon their goals by the time February comes around.

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Here’s 10 reasons why you’ll probably fail your goals in the new year and some advice from a Performance Psychologist on how to achieve what you set out to do.

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1. Do you want the lifestyle?

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Too many people set goals without thinking through the costs that it takes to achieve them.

Everything comes with a cost.

You want to lose weight but do you really want to exercise more and improve your diet?

You want the promotion but do you really want the responsibility and stress?

You say you want to change, but do you really want to change?

The real challenge isn’t determining the rewards and goals you want to gain but the costs you’re willing to pay.

Everyone wants the outcome but not many people are actually willing to do the work.  

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2. The Gap’s too big

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When it comes to goal setting and behaviour change, most people state the exact opposite of where they’re already at.

“I want to have a 6 pack” - but they never exercise and eat junk food on the daily.

“I want complete emotional control” but they’re impulsive and reactive to the smallest of things.

This doesn’t work. It’s so unbelievable as the gap between where you’re currently at vs where you want to be is so big.

This becomes overwhelming and demotivating as it feels so far out of reach.

Overwhelm creates underwhelming action.

This isn’t an excuse to limit yourself but it has to be realistic so it at least feels attainable.

It’s good to have a big picture, but break your goal down so it feels within reach.

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3. You’re being too vague

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Vagueness is the enemy of action.

It’s easy to be clear on what you want but you need to be clear on what you’re actually going to do.

An implementation-intention is a plan you make beforehand about when and where you will act.

It’s a fancy term to set a time and location for your behaviour.

Fill out the following and you 2x the chance of your behaviour.

I’m going to *behaviour* at *location* on *time*

e.g. I’m going to go for a 5k run at the park on Monday morning at 8am.

Book it in your calendar and show up.

Specific planning may be boring but hundreds of studies show that it nearly doubles the chance of your desired behaviour.

A minor cost for a major reward.

Shift your language from I want to —> I’m going to

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4. You’re using the wrong metric

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The main purpose of having a goal is that it tells you what process you need to put in place to achieve it.

The goal sets the direction but the process is the route that gets you there.

Goals just tell you what you say yes and no to.

Our brains love feedback and progress.

What gets measured gets improved.

But the trap most people fall into when they hear the word measure it that they go straight to the outcome.

To time, numbers, points and rankings.

But the key is to measure the process.

Track whether you’re actually showing up and spending time on the things that are important to you.

Measure your goals but measure the process.

It’s good to have a big goal, but back it up with big action.

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5. You’re too reliant on motivation

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If your behaviour is solely controlled by motivation, then you’re always going to be inconsistent.

Motivation is temporary and it fluctuates.

There’s 5 different forms of motivation that drive our behaviours.

These sit on a continuum ranging from internal to external.

They each have their own function, but they also have their own drawbacks.

External motivation - such as rewards, punishment and guilt - are great for getting a behaviour started but not very good for keeping it going.

You get used to it and it fades away.

This is a big reason for the January rush and February drop off when it comes to behaviour change.

Now the more internal your motivation, the higher chance of long-term, consistent action.

But there’s still going to be days where as much as you love something or you’ve internalised it, you still don’t want to do it.

This is where habits come into play.

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6. You’ve not created habits

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“Motivation is what gets you started, habit is what keeps you going” - Jim Ryun

If you want to create long term, constant behaviour change, then you need to build habits.

Habits account for roughly 45% of all behaviours and take on average, 66 days to instil.

As a behaviour turns into a habit, we see more activation in the basal ganglia - a region of the brain associated with stimulus driven behaviour - and less activation in the pre-frontal cortex which is where the decision making process happens.

Habits bypass that decision making process and don’t allow us to negotiate ourself out of a behaviour.

If you want to build a habit, you need to create triggers.

There’s 5 different triggers in total:

1. Time
2. Place
3. Event
4. People
5. Emotion

The more you identify, the higher the chance of the behaviour.

For example, at 8am, I will go the the gym, after brushing my teeth, with my friend Joe, even if I feel tired.

Be specific with your triggers and act on them immediately.

“We first make our habits, then our habits make us” - John Dryden

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7. You’re trying to change what you do without changing how you see yourself

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Identity is the key to behaviour change.

We act in line with who we are.

Most people try to change their behaviour without changing their identity.

This is very difficult as a mismatch between who you are and what you do creates internal conflict and mental noise.

For example “I am lazy” is going to create conflict when you try to exercise.

“I am a procrastinator” is going to create conflict when you want to be productive.

If you want to change your behaviour, shift your identity and shed your negative labels first, then your behaviour will follow suit.

Instead of “I’m lazy” —> “I’m an exerciser”

Instead of “I’m a procrastinator” —> “I am efficient”

Hard to believe at first? Perhaps.

But reinforce your new identity with daily behaviours and your brain will start to believe it.

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It’s a 2 step process.

1. Decide who you want to become
2. Prove it to yourself with small wins

Fake it til you make it? Maybe.

But “be it to become it” is more accurate.

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8. Your Environment is holding you back

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Behaviours have triggers.

We may think we’re autonomous creatures in full control but our behaviour is often a default response to our environment.

We’re dramatically influenced by people and places.

If your friend becomes obese, your chance of joining them increases by 57%.

Now I’m not saying to ditch your friend just because they put on a bit of weight.

But just know that our environment and surroundings both promote and reduce the chance of certain behaviours.

Now it’s a simple fix.

If you want to increase goal-related behaviours, reduce the friction and make them easy.

If you want to run more, leave your running shoes out.

If you want to read more, leave a book by your bed or chair.

And if you want to decrease undesirable behaviours, increase the friction and make them difficult.

If you want to eat less junk food, don’t leave it out on the side.

If you want to watch less TV, take the batteries out of the remote.

Extra steps make you think. Less steps make you act.

Shape your environment and your environment will shape you.

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9. Too Much Positive Thinking  

When we’re asked to set goals and visualise what we want to achieve, we often bypass the difficulty and amount of hurdles we have to face along the way.

Some people think psychology is all about positive thinking.

That our positive thoughts become our reality.

But the problem with positive thinking is that it sets unrealistic expectations and leaves us shocked when something inevitably goes wrong.

We don’t know how to respond and we’re thrown off our processes.

An if-then plan is a simple psychological technique to overcome this.

If X happens… then I will Y…

If I have negative thoughts, then I will accept and detach from them.

If I get tired mid workout, then I’ll lean on my motivational mechanism.

Anticipate roadblocks and mental obstacles along the way and have a plan in place for how you’re going to respond.

This both reduces worry beforehand and prepares a better response for in the moment.

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10. Too much planning, not enough action

Planning’s important, but only if it leads to action.

So many people write down ambitious goals, plans and schedules.

But you need to back it up with action.

Let go of the idea it needs to be perfect from the start.

Perfectionism leads to procrastination which leads to inaction.

You just need to get started.

Momentum builds as you take repeated action.

The space shuttle burns through more fuel in the first minute of take off than its entire orbit around earth.  

It needs to overcome gravity and initial forces to build momentum and get up to speed.

Behaviour change is very similar.

You need to overcome initial beliefs, behaviours and habits to launch your new behaviour.

Reduce the time it takes between planning and action.

“Just do it” - Nike

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So reverse the order. Here’s how to achieve your goals in 2025:

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1. Decide the costs that you’re willing to endure, not just the rewards you want to gain  
2. Reduce the gap - be realistic and break it down so the goal feels possible
3. Get specific - create implementation-intentions
4. Measure the process, not just the outcome
5. Shift your motivation down the continuum - internalise it for long-term consistency
6. Create habits - identify 5 triggers
7. Upgrade your identity in line with your desired behaviour change
8. Control your environment - manipulate friction
9. Anticipate roadblocks and create if-then plans
10. Imperfect action - just get started

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Execute. Take Action. Just Get Started.