65 New Year's Resolution Ideas You Can Actually Keep

What are good New Year's resolution ideas?

Good New Year's resolution ideas are specific, positive and small enough to start on January 2. "Get healthy" is a wish. "Walk 10 minutes after lunch on weekdays" is a resolution you can actually do. Below are 65 common resolutions, grouped by area, each rewritten as a small habit with a clear time and place.

Pick one to three. You do not need a long list. You need a few habits you can repeat, a way to track them and a plan for the weeks when life gets in the way. For a written plan behind any of them, the SMART goals tool turns a resolution into a specific, measurable goal.

How do you choose a New Year's resolution?

Choose something you want, not something you think you should want, and make it about doing something rather than avoiding something.

1. Look back first. What went well this year? What do you want more of? Start there.
2. Pick one area. Health, money, relationships, learning, home or rest. One area keeps it manageable.
3. Phrase it as something to do. "Cook dinner at home three nights a week" rather than "stop ordering takeout." Research on resolutions, covered below, found approach goals did better than avoidance goals.
4. Shrink it. Make the first version small enough to do on a tired day.
5. Attach it to a cue. Tie it to something you already do: after breakfast, after you park, when you sit at your desk.
6. Decide how you will track it. A calendar, a paper tracker or an app. The habit tracker template is a free printable option.

65 New Year's resolution ideas, each as a small habit

Each idea shows the usual resolution in bold, then a small habit version you can start in the first week of January. Adjust the times to your day.

Health and movement

1. Exercise more. Walk for 10 minutes after lunch on weekdays.
2. Get in shape. Do 10 squats while the coffee brews.
3. Run a 5K. Run-walk for 20 minutes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings.
4. Stretch every day. Stretch for 5 minutes right after you brush your teeth at night.
5. Take the stairs. Use the stairs for any trip of three floors or fewer.
6. Walk more. Take a phone call on foot once a day.
7. Try yoga. Follow one 15-minute beginner video on Sunday mornings.
8. Sit less. Stand up and move for two minutes at the top of every hour at work.

Food and drink

1. Eat healthier. Add one vegetable to dinner every night.
2. Cook at home more. Cook dinner at home on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
3. Drink more water. Fill a water bottle when you sit down at your desk.
4. Eat breakfast. Keep yogurt and fruit at eye level in the fridge and eat them before you leave.
5. Cut back on takeout. Plan three simple dinners every Sunday before you shop.
6. Pack lunch. Pack tomorrow's lunch while tonight's dinner cooks.
7. Eat more slowly. Put your fork down between bites for the first five bites of each meal.
8. Drink less coffee late in the day. Switch to water or decaf after 2 p.m.

Sleep and rest

1. Get more sleep. Set a bedtime alarm 30 minutes before lights out.
2. Go to bed earlier. Move your bedtime 15 minutes earlier each week until you reach your target.
3. Stop hitting snooze. Put your alarm across the room.
4. Have a calmer evening. Dim the lights and put your phone on the charger at 10 p.m.
5. Take real breaks. Step away from your screen for 5 minutes after every 50 minutes of work.
6. Rest on weekends. Keep Sunday afternoon free of chores and plans.

Mind and mood

1. Meditate. Sit for 3 minutes after you pour your morning coffee.
2. Journal. Write three lines before bed about the day.
3. Practice gratitude. Name one good thing from the day at dinner.
4. Worry less. Write your worries on a list at 6 p.m. and pick one thing to do about one of them.
5. Be more patient. Take one slow breath before answering when you feel rushed.
6. Spend more time outside. Drink your morning coffee by a window or outside.
7. Be kinder to yourself. When you notice harsh self-talk, ask what you would say to a friend.

Phone and screens

1. Spend less time on my phone. Charge your phone outside the bedroom.
2. Stop doomscrolling. Delete one social app from your home screen and use it only in a browser.
3. Read more, scroll less. Leave a book on your pillow so you see it at bedtime.
4. Have screen-free meals. Put phones in a basket during dinner.
5. Check email less. Check email at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. only.
6. Watch less TV. Turn off autoplay and decide on one episode before you start.
7. Take a weekly digital break. Keep one evening a week screen-free after 7 p.m.

Learning and growth

1. Read more books. Read 10 pages before bed.
2. Learn a language. Do one 10-minute lesson with your morning coffee.
3. Learn an instrument. Practice for 10 minutes right after dinner.
4. Take a course. Block one 45-minute session on Saturday mornings.
5. Listen to fewer, better podcasts. Pick one educational episode for your weekly commute or walk.
6. Write more. Write 200 words on Tuesday and Thursday before work.
7. Learn to cook new dishes. Try one new recipe every other Sunday.
8. Build a skill for work. Spend the first 20 minutes of Friday on one skill.

Money

1. Save more money. Set up an automatic transfer to savings on payday.
2. Stick to a budget. Review last week's spending every Sunday after breakfast.
3. Spend less on impulse buys. Wait 48 hours before buying anything nonessential over a set amount.
4. Pay off debt. Add a small extra payment to the smallest balance each month.
5. Cancel unused subscriptions. Review subscriptions on the first day of each month.
6. Build an emergency fund. Move any unplanned money you receive straight to savings.
7. Pack snacks instead of buying them. Refill a snack bag every Sunday night.

Home and organization

1. Get organized. Spend 10 minutes tidying after the dinner dishes.
2. Declutter. Remove one item from your home each day into a donate box.
3. Keep a clean kitchen. Run the dishwasher every night, even if it is not full.
4. Plan my week. Spend 15 minutes on Sunday evening planning the week.
5. Make my bed. Make your bed before you leave the bedroom.
6. Stay on top of laundry. Start one load every Monday and Thursday morning.
7. Be on time. Leave 10 minutes earlier than you think you need to.

Relationships and community

1. Spend more time with family. Share one screen-free dinner a week.
2. Keep in touch with friends. Text or call one friend every Wednesday.
3. Be a better partner. Ask one real question about their day each evening.
4. Remember birthdays. Add every birthday you know to your calendar in January.
5. Volunteer. Sign up for one volunteer shift a month.
6. Meet new people. Say yes to one new group activity a month.
7. Write more thank-you notes. Send one thank-you message every Friday.

How do you turn any resolution into a small habit?

Use the same pattern for anything on the list or anything you come up with yourself.

Why do New Year's resolutions fail?

Resolutions usually stall for ordinary reasons, not a lack of willpower. The most common ones:

• They are too vague. "Be healthier" gives you nothing to do on a Tuesday.
• They are too big. A 60-minute daily workout is hard to start from zero.
• They are about stopping, not doing. "Stop snacking" leaves a gap with no plan for what to do instead.
• There is no cue. "Sometime today" often becomes never.
• One slip feels like failure. Many people quit after the first missed week in January.
• Too many at once. Five new habits compete for the same time and attention.

The fixes are the mirror image: one to three specific, positive, small habits, each tied to a cue, tracked simply, with a plan for missed days. For a deeper look at the missed-day problem, see how to be consistent.

How do you keep your New Year's resolutions?

Keep them small, track them and plan for setbacks before they happen.

1. Start on a date, not a mood. January 2 is fine. So is the first Monday.
2. Do the small version for the first two weeks. You can grow it later.
3. Track it where you will see it. A tracker on the fridge or next to your bed.
4. Plan your "never miss twice" rule. If you miss a day, the next day is the priority.
5. Review monthly. On the first Sunday of each month, ask what worked, what got in the way and what to change.
6. Make it visual if that helps. A vision board with one picture per resolution, and the habit written underneath, works well for some people.
7. Tell one person. A friend or partner who checks in once a week.

Which approach fits your situation?

What does a worked resolution look like?

Here is one resolution taken from wish to plan. Chris, 41, says every year that he will "get fit."

• Rewritten: "Walk for 15 minutes after dinner, five nights a week."
• Cue: Putting the last plate in the dishwasher.
• Tracking: A check on a paper tracker on the fridge.
• Backup plan: On rainy nights, 15 minutes of stretching in the living room.
• Missed-day rule: Never miss two nights in a row.
• Review: First Sunday of each month. At the February review he adds a longer Saturday walk.

By March, Chris is not following a dramatic plan. He has one habit that runs on its own most nights, and a place to build from. For a guided start, the 30-day habit building plan walks through the first month day by day.

What does research say about New Year's resolutions?

Research on resolutions is limited but more encouraging than the jokes suggest.

In a study that followed 159 people who made New Year's resolutions and 123 comparable people who wanted to change but did not make a resolution, 46% of resolvers were continuously successful at six months compared with 4% of non-resolvers. Confidence in one's ability to change, skills to change and readiness before January 1 predicted success (Norcross, Mrykalo & Blagys, 2002). Success was self-reported, and the most common goals were weight loss, exercise and quitting smoking.

In a larger study of 1,066 adults in Sweden, the most popular resolutions were about physical health, weight loss and eating habits. At the one-year follow-up, 55% of those who responded considered themselves successful. People with approach-oriented goals, like "start eating breakfast," were more successful than those with avoidance-oriented goals, like "stop eating sweets," 58.9% versus 47.1% (Oscarsson et al., 2020). The group that received some support on goal setting did better than both a group with no extra support and a group with extended support. Success was also self-reported.

On timelines, a study of 96 volunteers who repeated a daily eating, drinking or activity behavior found that the time to reach near-automaticity ranged from 18 to 254 days, and missing one opportunity did not materially affect the process (Lally et al., 2010). There is no fixed number of days, and one missed day is not a reset. For more on this, see how long it takes to form a habit.

Where should you go from here?

Pick one idea from the list, write its if-then plan and print a habit tracker for January. If you want a day-by-day plan built around it, build your 30-day habit plan. More ideas for choosing and keeping habits are in the habit-building topic hub.