It’s believed that the ancient Babylonians were the first to make new year resolutions more than 4,000 years ago. During a 12-day religious festival that marked the start of a new year, they made promises to the gods to repay debts and return items they had borrowed. They also swore allegiance to the king.
Since then, it’s become common practice in cultures around the world to set intentions at the beginning of a new year. However, sticking to those promises and achieving lasting behavioural changes can be difficult.
According to a poll from YouGov, only 31% of Brits said they had stuck to all the resolutions they made for 2023.
If you’ve struggled to keep to your resolutions in the past, it might be because you set ambitious goals that were difficult to achieve. Alternatively, the all-or-nothing nature of a resolution could put a lot of pressure on you.
You may find it easier to create sustainable lifestyle changes if you adapt your approach and don’t try to set rigid goals. Instead, you could try these four alternatives to new year resolutions in 2025.
1. Set a general intention for the year ahead
Resolutions are often quite specific and very ambitious, which can feel daunting. For example, if you want to improve your diet, you might aim to cut out sugar altogether. While the intention is good, it’s difficult to make such a drastic change right away.
You might find more success if you set a general intention instead of a strict resolution. For example, you could decide to be more mindful about the food you eat in 2025. While you might not cut out sugar altogether, being more conscious of your eating habits could lead you to make healthier choices.
Additionally, when you remove the pressure of a specific resolution, it could be easier to maintain this change and build on it in the long term.
2. Create a one-month resolution
If you do want to achieve a specific goal, you may consider a one-month resolution instead of committing to a change for the entire year.
Initiatives such as “Dry January” or “Veganuary” – which involve cutting out alcohol or animal products for January – have become very popular in the past decade.
Maintaining a significant lifestyle change for a month is far more achievable, and it gives you a sense of what the benefits might be. At the end of the month, you may leave it behind and revert to your old lifestyle.
However, many people continue with the resolution in some form. For example, Veganuary reported in 2023 that six months after completing the 31-day challenge:
- 28% of participants were still eating a completely vegan diet
- 36% of participants had reduced their consumption of animal products by at least 75%
- 16% of participants had reduced their consumption of animal products by at least 50%.
As you can see, around a third of people maintained the resolution in the long term, and those who didn’t still made a lasting change to their diet that could bring health benefits.
Consequently, focusing on a smaller milestone might be a more effective way to create lasting change.
3. Choose a word or phrase to guide you in 2025
Choosing a word or phrase to guide you throughout the year could be another excellent alternative to setting a resolution. It’s a useful way to give yourself a gentle reminder about certain behavioural changes you want to make. You might find that it shifts your mindset and helps you view your life through a new lens too.
For example, you may be concerned about your work-life balance. As a result, you could choose the word “balance” to frame your life in 2025. When you bring the idea of balance into everything you do, you may find that you make decisions that support your aims in all areas of your life.
Using this method could help you instigate wide-ranging changes in your lifestyle, rather than changing one specific behaviour.
4. Try “habit stacking”
Habit stacking is a simple psychological trick that can make it much easier to incorporate behavioural changes into your routine.
The process relies on the connections that are established in your brain when you complete a certain task. These are known as “synapses”. The more often you do a specific action, the stronger the synapse becomes. That’s why you can easily remember to brush your teeth or take a shower every day without much effort.
Habit stacking means attaching a new task to an existing one, so you can take advantage of the strong synapses that already exist.
For example, you might want to stay active by taking a walk every day. Yet, it can be hard to find the motivation after a long day at work. To get around this, identify a task that you do habitually every day when you get in from work.
It could be something as simple as checking the post or making a cup of tea. Then, simply attach the intention to take a walk to that task – “After I check the post, I will put my trainers on and take a walk”.
You may find it much easier to develop the new routine because you’re piggybacking off the established habit.
Get in touch
If you have any financial resolutions for 2025, we can help you achieve them.
Please get in touch or email us at advice@mlifa.co.uk for more information.
Please note
This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.