Your 2025 success plan to achieve your New Year's resolutions

As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, Australians are quick to embrace fresh goals and aspirations.

More than 14 million Australians set New Year's resolutions for 2024, according to research by Finder, with younger generations leading the charge.

According to the survey of 1039 people, 73% of Australians made a resolution, with women (79%) more likely than men (66%) to set goals. Resolutions are particularly popular among Gen Z (92%) and millennials (83%), compared to just 52% of baby boomers.

But while setting goals is simple, sticking to them is the real challenge.

Disappointingly, research from the University of Adelaide shows is that about 91% of the resolutions made in earnest will be well and truly broken by the end of January.

How to make your New Year's resolutions stick

If you've struggled with resolutions in the past, approaching them with a clear plan and actionable steps can make all the difference. Here's how to set yourself up for success in 2025:

1. Set SMART goals

The foundation of any successful resolution is clarity. Use the SMART framework to create goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

For example, instead of setting a vague goal like save money in 2025, refine it to something actionable: Save $5000 by December 31, 2025, by transferring $100 weekly into my high-interest savings account.

Specificity not only helps you understand exactly what you're working toward but also makes it easier to track your progress.

Measurable goals ensure you can evaluate success.

Meanwhile, making your goal achievable prevents you from burning out and becoming demotivated, and keeping it relevant ensures it aligns with your broader life aspirations. Finally, attaching a time frame keeps you accountable and motivated to take consistent action.

2 Break it down into manageable steps

Large goals can feel overwhelming and insurmountable, often leading to procrastination or abandoning the goal altogether.

The key to overcoming this is to focus on tiny, incremental changes that compound over time, a concept popularised by James Clear in Atomic Habits. By breaking your resolution into smaller, actionable steps, you make progress more achievable and less intimidating.

For example, if your goal is to save $10,000 by the end of the year, break it into monthly or weekly targets.

Instead of focusing on the daunting $10,000 figure, aim for $833 a month or $192 a week. These smaller steps feel more manageable and provide consistent wins to celebrate, which reinforces your motivation to keep going.

This principle can be applied to health goals too. If your resolution is to exercise more, don't overwhelm yourself by committing to daily workouts straight away.

Start small-perhaps with three sessions a week or even a 10-minute walk each day. As you build consistency, gradually increase the intensity or frequency. This approach aligns with the idea that habits are built by starting small and scaling up once the behaviour becomes automatic.

By focusing on smaller steps, you reduce the likelihood of paralysis.

These incremental improvements may feel insignificant in the moment, but their impact compounds over time, leading to substantial progress towards your larger goal. Remember, saving $1 each day is $520 at the end of the year. That's $520 more than if you just did nothing.

As Clear emphasises, "success is the product of daily habits-not once-in-a-lifetime transformations".

3. Build systems and habits to sustain progress

Success doesn't rely solely on willpower; it's about creating a system that supports your goals. Building habits and implementing systems make progress feel automatic rather than effortful.

For financial goals, automation is key. Set up automatic transfers to your savings account or automate bill payments to avoid late fees. For health-related resolutions, schedule regular workouts in your calendar or prepare meals in advance to avoid unhealthy food choices.

Systems help reduce decision fatigue by taking the guesswork out of your actions. You're more likely to stick to a goal when the path to achieving it feels seamless and integrated into your daily life.

4. Make yourself accountable

Additionally, it's essential to create systems that make you accountable. If you're going to the gym or trying to stick to a diet, do it with someone you trust. When you share your goals with someone else, you create a sense of social pressure to follow through.

Humans are wired to seek approval and avoid disappointing others. By publicly committing to your goals, you're more likely to take them seriously because someone else is now expecting you to succeed.

For example, telling a friend you'll save $200 this month or train for a marathon makes it harder to back out, as you don't want to appear unreliable or uncommitted.

App-y new year: Apps to keep you on track

Technology can be a game-changer for sticking to resolutions. While there are some apps out there specifically tailored for new year's resolutions, there's a whole lot more that'll help you achieve a specific goal.

Whether it be on your laptop or downloaded on your phone, here's a list of apps that can help you stay focused, whether you're aiming to improve your finances, health, or overall productivity:

For financial goals

• PocketSmith
  Helps you budget, forecast cash flow, and track your spending habits.
• Raiz
  Automates micro-investments, allowing you to invest your spare change.
• YNAB (You Need a Budget)
  Encourages proactive budgeting by assigning every dollar a job.
• Splitwise
  Great for managing shared expenses with friends or family.

For health and fitness goals

• MyFitnessPal
  Tracks your meals and exercise to help you stay on top of your health goals.
• Strava
  Perfect for runners and cyclists who want to track their workouts and progress.
• Headspace
  Offers guided meditations to help you manage stress and stay focused.

For productivity and habits

• Habitica
  Turns habit tracking into a gamified experience, rewarding you for sticking to your goals.
• Todoist
  A powerful task manager to help you organize your personal and professional life.

For lifestyle changes

• Sleep Cycle
  Analyses your sleep patterns and wakes you up during your lightest sleep phase.
• Freedom
  Blocks distracting apps and websites to help you focus on what matters.
• Forest
  Encourages you to put down your phone by growing virtual trees (which get planted into actual trees in real life) that flourish when you stay off your device.

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