Why 80% of New Year’s Goals Fail by February and How to Beat the Odds

It’s almost February, which means many people are on the brink of quietly abandoning their goals or “resolutions.” I’ve certainly been there: it took three New Years to finally commit to writing more. Whether losing 50 pounds, quitting smoking, or finally picking up the guitar you bought five years ago, we’ve all set ambitious goals only to watch them fade.

Whatever our aspirations may be, the odds are unfortunately stacked against us. Research and surveys suggest that anywhere from 50% to 80% of people quit their resolutions by February¹ . It is so well known that the popular workout app Strava even named January 19th “Quitter’s Day” based on user behavior. Sound familiar?

Even low-cost gym chains (yes, looking at you, Planet Fitness) bank on our resolutions failing; they rely on resolutioners who sign up in January but rarely show up. This strategy allows them to continue collecting the monthly fees and releases the pressure valve on the squat rack queues for the minority that continues to show up.

Since my own goal this year is to write more, I figured there was no better way to start than publishing this before January ends!

So, how do you avoid becoming a statistic? Here are the four common pitfalls I’ve observed:

1) Setting Unrealistic Goals in Unrealistic Timeframes

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one."– Mark Twain

Problem: You decide to lose 50 pounds. Driven by our instant-gratification culture, you want to see results ASAP, maybe even to show it off on social media. The goal is daunting, and you don’t know where to start. You know you have to work out and eat healthy, but you feel overwhelmed every time you go to the gym. After a week or two, the scale barely moves, you are constantly sore, and you wonder: “Does one slice of cake really matter?”

To be clear, setting big, ambitious goals is not inherently bad, but is indeed encouraged. They inspire action and can push you to exceed your limits. However, you must also realize you cannot lose 50 pounds overnight. This all-or-nothing mentality feels appropriately ambitious for the “new year, new me” crowd but relies too much on motivation and guesswork, neither of which is sustainable.

Without a roadmap that sets out intermediate goals you can implement daily and weekly, the big goal will remain overwhelming and out of reach.

Solution: You need a roadmap with small, milestone goals to get you to the big, daunting goal. So, if the big, daunting goal is losing 50 pounds, why not start with 1 pound per week? That goal is achievable and should get you to the same place by the end of the year.

If your goal is to read ten non-fiction books this year, start by setting a smaller, more achievable target: one book per month. Break that further into a daily habit of reading five to ten pages. By the end of the month, you’ll have read 150–300 pages, enough to complete an average non-fiction book. That’s it; focusing on reading a few pages each day will take care of your larger goal.

This strategy taps into behavioral momentum, the idea that once you start moving in the right direction, continuing becomes easier. Five pages may turn into 10, 20, or 50. Getting your workouts this week will give you the morale to return to the gym next week.

What if you miss a day? It happens to the best of us. Don’t worry, and get back to the routine. The key is resilience: bouncing back quickly from setbacks. And remember, you are not a robot.

2) Focusing on Outcomes Instead of Habits

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."– Robert Collier

Problem: We often fixate on the outcomes because we believe reaching that “ideal state” will solve our problems and make us happy. For example, you may imagine that losing weight, earning a promotion, or making X amount of money will erase your dissatisfaction and insecurities. This mindset ignores the learnings you’ve had to acquire along the way and the systems and processes needed to sustain that ideal state. Even if you got there overnight, do you truly live the life to maintain that ideal state?

In addition, this fixation clashes with another psychological phenomenon. Hedonic adaptation, also known as the “hedonic treadmill,” suggests that no matter what happens, people tend to return to their baseline level of happiness. This means that even if you hit your goal weight or land your dream job, the excitement will eventually fade, and you’ll return to your baseline happiness.

Solution: Lasting change comes from taking small, consistent actions over long periods of time. Break down your mini-goals into daily or weekly habits that are simple, effortless, and adaptable to your busy life. Remember James Clear’s 1 Percent Rule: small improvements, like getting 1% better each day, will compound into significant progress over time² .

If you are unsure what habits align with your goals, you can start by educating yourself on that topic or seeking guidance from a coach or mentor.

3) Lack of commitment and accountability

"You are what you do, not what you say you'll do."– Carl Jung

Problem: You set your big goals, mini-goals, and habits to get you there. These are all part of the planning phase. While you may be tempted to work on your plan to “perfection,” progress can only come from action.

Without commitment and accountability, it’s easy to deprioritize goals when life gets busy. You want to lose weight, but work feels stressful, you are exhausted when you get home, and time always seems short. So, you tell yourself, “I’ll get back to this when things calm down.”

Here is the hard truth: things will never truly calm down. Humans are notorious for overestimating the free time we’ll have in the future. If you’re looking for an excuse, there will always be one.

Solution: If you are sure this is your goal, it’s time to commit and keep yourself accountable. Commitments are the actions you take at the beginning of the journey to lock yourself into that pathway, and accountability is the system you put in place to ensure you don’t stray too far.

For instance, if you want to learn a new skill, then sign up for a course, schedule it in your calendar, and pay for it upfront. Scheduling it and paying for it forces you to stick to it while the instructor will keep you accountable for your goals. I recently had a version of this when I signed up to get on stage for a concert in three months after not having played the drums for three years. Needless to say, I was motivated not to embarrass myself in front of a crowd!

Commitments can have far-reaching applications. The common thread is that they are automatic and would require certain effort to be undone. For instance:

• To eat healthier, you can subscribe to a service that brings fresh produce or ready-made meals to your house.

• To save money for retirement, you can set your paycheck to automatically contribute a certain amount to your 401K account each month before you can even be tempted to spend it.

Accountability ensures long-term success by making it more “expensive” for you to back out of your commitments.

• To read more consistently, you can join a book club, as group settings can create positive pressure and provide support.

• To exercise more, you can find a partner who shares similar goals and work out together.

The right commitments and accountability systems turn good intentions into real, lasting progress. What’s one commitment you can make today to start your journey?

4) Lack of an environmental design

“Environment is an invisible hand that shapes human behavior.”

—James Clear

Problem: Even with clear goals, habits, and accountability systems, your environment often acts as the silent saboteur of your progress. This isn’t because of a lack of willpower; it’s because your surroundings unconsciously influence your behavior.

Your environment is like a hidden script that directs your actions without you even noticing. For example:

• You want to eat healthier, but the sight of double chocolate ice cream in the freezer on a lazy weekend triggers a craving you can’t resist.

• You want to spend less time scrolling on Instagram, yet the app’s icon on your home screen becomes a magnetic force you open without thinking.

• You want to read before bed, but the giant TV in your bedroom serves as a beacon for binge-watching the latest trendy show instead.

These examples highlight a fundamental truth: your environment often defaults you to behaviors you’re trying to avoid. Unless you actively design your environment to align with your goals, it will pull you back into old patterns, no matter how strong your intentions are.

Solution: To make lasting change, redesign your environment to make good habits easier and bad habits more difficult. Remember, out of sight, out of mind. Creating the life you want isn’t about sheer willpower, a finite resource; it’s about leveraging your surroundings to work for you, not against you.

If you want to eat healthier, don’t buy junk food or, at least hide them at the back of the pantry. If you want to spend less time scrolling, use an app like Freedom to assign hours free from social media.

Instead, place triggers for your desired habits in plain sight. Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter. Keep your workout clothes where you’ll see them first thing in the morning. Reduce the friction to things you want to do. Pre-pack healthy snacks or keep a giant water bottle on your desk.

Remember, your brain craves the path of least resistance. When you design your environment to promote good behaviors, those behaviors become easier to adopt.

Conclusion

Your goals don’t fail because of a lack of motivation, they fail due to a lack of strategy. Set realistic milestones, build habits, create accountability, and shape your environment to work for you, not against you.

In the end, progress doesn’t require perfection, only consistency. So, what’s your first step?

1  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-years-resolutions-tips-why-they-fail/

2  https://jamesclear.com/the-1-percent-rule