New Year’s resolutions are made with genuine intention, yet many do not survive the past few weeks of January. A new year tends to promise a clean slate, a chance to become the person we imagine ourselves to be. We set resolutions with optimism, convinced that this will be the year things stick.
However, for many people, motivation fades quickly. When goals are abandoned, we begin to feel frustrated, and a sense of disappointment sets in. This cycle is not a personal failure! Research suggests it is often a predictable pattern.
Why Fresh Starts Feel So Powerful
Psychologists describe something called the fresh start effect. This effect shows that people are more motivated to pursue goals immediately after meaningful time markers. These time markers can be birthdays, the start of a new months, or even Mondays can have this same impact. New Year’s Day is one of the strongest examples of the fresh start effect.
The fresh start effect works in two ways. First, they create a sense of distance from the past. Mistakes, setbacks, or unfinished goals feel like they belong to a previous chapter. This separation makes it easier to feel hopeful and capable again. The narrative becomes “that was the old me! This is my chance to do better!” The second way fresh starts work is they encourage big picture thinking. Instead of getting caught up in day-to-day effort, people focus on what matters most in the long run. This shift makes aspirational behaviour, like setting goals or making commitments, feel more appealing.
Fresh starts can be genuinely motivating. However, they also come with an important downside.
“Just Let the New Me Do It”
Research has found that when people focus too heavily on an upcoming fresh start, motivation in the present can actually decrease. Instead of helping, fixed mindset on these future starts become an excuse to wait.
When this happens, people begin to mentally separate their current self from their future self. Effort today feels less urgent and it becomes easy to think, “I’ll really commit once the new year starts.”
In other words, today’s work tends to be procrastinated with the assumption that the “new me” will be more motivated, more disciplined, or better equipped to handle it later. The intention is still there, but the action is delayed.
The Trap of False Hope
Another reason New Year’s resolutions struggle is that expectations for change are often set higher than what is realistically sustainable, this pattern is known as false hope syndrome. This occurs when desired outcomes are not actually attainable in the way people imagine, yet there is a strong belief that self-change will quickly produce those results.
Expectations become inflated. Goals are framed around dramatic transformation rather than realistic effort. When progress doesn’t match our expectations, frustration and discouragement follow. Many people respond by giving up entirely, reinforcing the belied that they “just can’t stick to goals.”
This issue isn’t a lack of motivation. It’s that expectations attached to the goal were never grounded in reality.
A More Sustainable Approach to New Year’s Goals
Taken together, this research suggests that New year’s resolutions don’t fail because people lack motivation or are not disciplined. They tend to fail because people are encouraged to rely on a future version of themselves while holding unrealistic expectations about change.
Fresh starts can be helpful when they are used to reconnect with values and intentions. They become unhelpful when they create distance from responsibility in the present.
Setting attainable goals means resisting the urge to hand everything over to the “new you” and instead stay connected to the person you already are. Progress does not come from wiping the slate clean. It comes from effort, consistency, and realistic expectations.
James Clear discussed in his book Atomic Habits how meaningful change rarely comes from dramatic transformation. Instead, it comes from small consistent actions that compound over time. Rather than trying to become a completely different person overnight, the focus is on making changes that are realistic enough to repeat.
A Gentle Reminder
As this new year begins, it is worth remembering that change doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful. You don’t need to reinvent yourself or live up to an idealized version of who you think you should be. Progress is built through small, manageable steps taken consistently over time.
Being easy on yourself isn’t lowering the bar, it is creating the conditions where change can actually last. This year, letting go of pressure and focusing on what is realistic may be the most supportive resolution you make. One small step at a time is more than enough.
References
Clear, J. (2018). Atomic habits: An easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones. Avery.
Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: Temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563–2582. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901
Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., Riis, J., & Song, C. (2018). Just let the “new me” do it: How anticipated temporal landmarks cause procrastination. Advances in Consumer Research, 46, 657–661.
Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. (2002). If at first you don’t succeed: False hopes of self-change. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(5), 198–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00076
