How to keep your New Year’s resolutions on track: 7 tips
Published Feb 14, 2022 | Updated Jan 12, 2026
Written by Headspace Editorial Team
Resolution, who? If it’s a few weeks into the new year and that goal has long been abandoned, you’re in good company: According to CBS News, “just under 1 in 10 people (8 %) said their resolutions lasted a month. But if resolutions get a bad rap, maybe it’s because the majority of them are designed to fail. Failed New Year’s resolutions aren’t the result of you lacking the skills or know-how to succeed. You might just need to approach the goal, and your measures of success from a different perspective.
Mindfulness helps you reframe your resolutions with a calmer, gentler mind. From that starting point, you can become clear on your intention and motivation. As you move toward your reframed goal, you bring self-compassion and acceptance, without judgment or getting lost in inner commentary about how “well” you’redoing. In fact, mindfulness can also help you reevaluate if you’ve failed in the first place. Because in the same way meditation teaches you to let thoughts go, you can learn to let go of your ideas or stories around what “failure” looks like related to your New Year’s resolutions.
Key takeaways
Don’t rush to write off a resolution as failed
Self-compassion is key to navigating change
Try 7 meditations for getting failed resolutions back on track
Try a mini-meditation
Mini-Meditation: Find Your Focus
1 min
Why New Year’s resolutions fail
Big dreams can be a good thing. But sometimes you can focus so much on the end result that it creates more stress and self-doubt, because you start to fear you can’t achieve your goal. And it’s possible that the goal was unattainable in the first place. You often have a fixed expectation as to what a New Year’s resolution should look like — lose 20 pounds, meditate for 2 hours every day — without acknowledging and accepting where you’re at right now. If you never exercised or meditated before, it becomes easier to see why resolutions fail — how can you expect yourself to make such a drastic change right away?
Many times, you can’t meet your fitness resolution or life goal because you judge yourself and your inability to achieve the “new year, new me” trend you’re faced with every time January rolls around. You set a goal, falter on one step, and your mind is filled with negative self-talk about your failure. There’s nothing wrong with those thoughts or feelings, but the important thing is recognizing them and gently shifting yourself away from them. Instead of “What’s wrong with me?” you can ask yourself,“What can I do to get back on track?”
Seven ways to get goals back on track
If you don’t know how to keep your New Year’s resolutions on track, try starting with these suggestions. Whether your intention was to commit to a daily meditation practice or another goal to improve your health and happiness, here are some tips for New Year’s resolutions to stop them from stalling or drifting off course.
1. Focus on the journey
Instead of fixating on the end result, the non-striving concept of mindfulness teaches you to bring your awareness to your current place in the journey. With this mindset, we set your goals and aspirations, and then gently let them go, bringing your attention to the present moment. That doesn’t mean you forget your ultimate goal — it’s still there, helping you feel inspired and motivated — but it’s about bringing your attention back to the present and where you’re at, thinking about what you can do today, not how far you are from your future goal.
2. Break it down
If we set a big goal for yourself,, such as “I want to run 3 miles without taking a break,” it might feel too daunting — and easier to abandon — if you’re starting from a place of, say, not having run in several years. First, it’s important to acknowledge and accept where you are before we can move on to changing. Next, you can break a larger goal into smaller, more attainable steps like “I want to run 1 day every week for 2 minutes.” After that, the results that follow are the results that follow, removed from any kind of target or expectation. When you make this shift in perspective, it’s amazing how different a resolution can feel, devoid of a greater pressure or sense of failure.
3. Find support
Research shows that group support can help you stick to your resolutions. It can be helpful to be held accountable, whether by loved ones, a professional, a course, or an app. By declaring your intention to someone else, it can help you to follow through with that goal. And if your resolution is to meditate, the Headspace mental wellness app offers real-time group sessions, every 30 minutes, every day, so you can practice as part of a community.
4. Be patient
Forming a habit takes time — anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks to 66 days, depending on who you ask, and sometimes even longer. The key to setting yourself up for success is consistency, finding a time and a place to create a routine surrounding your resolution. Once you’re settled into that routine, you might find that you still fall short, and that’s okay. As Headspace co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe says about creating a meditation practice: “We all miss days, and that’s okay. In fact, some people don’t even want to meditate on a daily basis, and that’s okay, too. The important thing is to realize when we have missed a planned session, and then continue with the next, a little like noticing when the mind has wandered off before returning to the breath.” Meditation introduces you to intention and motivation without expectation; in other words, it teaches the mind to accept whatever unfolds. So don’t give up on your goals because you’ve made a minor misstep. Life happens, and nothing goes exactly as planned. You can simply let go, and move forward.
5. Practice self-compassion
Ultimately, a great way to stay on track is to look inwards and show yourself the gentle, forgiving support you would show a friend. When you’re trying to achieve something new, sometimes your biggest challenge can be convincing yourself that you’re capable of it. Meditation makes it easier for you to let go of your emotions and create a softer, more gentle mind where positive change can flow naturally. Self-compassion is simply treating yourself with kindness and remembering you’re human, and everyone makes mistakes. If you’re motivated by seeing the number drop on a scale, or a meditation run streak increase on the Headspace app, then you can use those tools to help your motivation and engagement. But if following this data makes you feel disappointed or stressed, then you can and should turn them off. As Andy once put it, “Forget the idea of progress, let go of the need to judge. The important thing is to show up, and as long as you do that, you’re on the right path.”
6. Reassess your goals
When a New Year’s resolution starts to feel overwhelming, it’s important to pause and reassess your goals. Reflecting on your original specific goal helps determine whether it’s still realistic and meaningful for this time in your life. Circumstances can change — whether it’s work, family, health, or daily routines — and what made sense in January may not fit now. Using mindfulness to check in with your motivation can relieve unnecessary stress and create space for honest evaluation.
This isn’t about admitting failure; it’s about setting yourself up for success. Experts suggest adjusting timelines or breaking a resolution into small goals to make it more achievable. For example, if your goal was to exercise every day but you’ve struggled to keep it on track, shifting to a few days a week or choosing a gentler activity can help build a sustainable new habit. Reframing your goals allows you to focus on realistic ways forward, supporting long-term change throughout the year.
7. Celebrate small wins
One of the most effective strategies for how to keep your New Year’s resolutions is to celebrate small wins. Acknowledging progress—no matter how small—boosts motivation and reinforces your commitment to your goals. Whether your resolution is to improve your sleep, quit smoking, or exercise more, taking time each week to reflect on what’s going well can keep your efforts on track.
Each small goal achieved, like swapping one unhealthy habit for a better one, builds momentum over time and reduces the likelihood of abandoning your resolution after a setback. By recognizing these steps, you cultivate support for yourself, strengthen your mindset, and sustain your New Year’s resolutions far beyond the start of the year.
Try 7 meditations for how to get failed New Year’s resolutions back on track
Looking for more meditations for getting resolutions back on track? The Headspace app offers members several courses and single meditations to help achieve New Year’s goals, including:
Climb the mountain. Your mind is at the top.
Learn to recognize impatience and let it go.
So long as you show up, you’re on the right path.
Practice treating yourself with unconditional kindness.
Focus on the present moment to be happy now, as you pursue your dreams.
Dr. Sahar Yousef, a cognitive neuroscientist and productivity expert, explains how to find the right mindset for achieving your goals.
Practice staying in the present moment to make choices that move you toward your goals.
Sometimes, you just need a bit of help preparing your mind for change when you’re looking to tackle a New Year’s resolution. And other times, you need to stop setting yourself up to fail with your own harsh self-judgment or overly stringent measurements of success. After all, you’re the one who gets to set the rules and watch yourself succeed.
Sources:
1. CBS News. (2024, December 31). Why New Year’s resolutions fail — and how to make lasting changes instead. CBS News.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-years-resolutions-tips-why-they-fail/. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
2. NIH News in Health. (2010, December). Making your resolutions stick. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2010/12/making-your-resolutions-stick. Accessed on October 31, 2025.
