Bite-sized resolutions

New beginnings are often a matter of perspective. We run our lives based on clocks and calendars, but our divisions of time and date are largely man-made. There is nothing that prevents us from deciding that, starting right now, we will be different from who we were before. As we all know, however, things are rarely that simple in real life. Anyone who has ever tried to better themselves knows this. Inertia is not only a law that governs bodies in motion, but also personal character as well. Changing ourselves is difficult, whether it be breaking old habits or making new ones, improving our ethics or making different commitments of time; it is never easy to turn over a new leaf. This is why many of us wait for overt opportunities to make a change, some external sign to give us the green light to make a new attempt. This is one reason why the tradition of resolutions is so popular, and doing so on New Year’s Day follows in the long history of self-renewals made at the changing of the seasons. When so many of us are making the same leap, it gives us more courage to attempt it ourselves, there being safety in numbers as they say.

But when we take a closer look at those numbers, when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, it reveals a pretty depressing picture. Less than 10 percent of those who attempt these resolutions ultimately succeed, with many dropping out within half of a year. Despite the number of people attempting it, the New Year rarely results in a new you, no matter how ambitious your resolutions are. This is because each of us is not the result of a single decision. We are the consequence of many choices, accumulated over time, manifesting in our bodies, our habits, our obligations and priorities. This means that – life-changing experiences and traumas aside – who we are cannot be fundamentally changed by a single decision, or a set of promises made on a single day, no matter how auspicious the day or how fervent our intentions. But that doesn’t mean all our resolutions are doomed to fail. All it means is that we need to change our perspective.

The bestselling book “Atomic Habits” speaks about how we often overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate, on the other hand, the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. It’s easy to see why. Most stories about personal change will emphasize that “defining moment” when “everything changed,” like St. Paul on the road to Damascus. So when we feel we want to make a change, the tendency is to do so in one fell swoop. Most people make grand resolutions for the New Year, and when they don’t manage to reach those lofty goals, they feel demoralized and potentially give up completely. This is made even worse when they see stories on social media – real or not – about others who did succeed at reaching their lofty goals on the first try.

Yes, it is possible for some people to make big changes at the drop of a hat, through sheer willpower. But not even the best of us can succeed at that all the time, and it’s important to remember that a change done gradually is no less a change than one done instantaneously.

Maybe this year we can change ourselves a little at a time. Set a tangible goal, a modest goal. A few more minutes of exercise every day. A few less unhealthy drinks during a week. One meal that we make sure we spend with someone who we don’t see enough of. Maybe these changes won’t rock your world or be immediately noticed by your friends and family. But when you keep at it, these improvements will become habits, will turn into your norm. And once that happens, you won’t need to expend willpower and energy on them anymore – instead, you can turn to the next step, another small yet tangible improvement. Step by step, change by change, you will improve. And that stairway of improvement can go on indefinitely, one step at a time.

Committing ourselves to self-improvement is always a difficult task. We have failed so many times before, after all. We know how little control we have of the world around us, of all the little circumstances that can seem to conspire against us. But promises are part of what makes us human. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche sees the ability of humans to make promises as one of the characteristics which separates us from other animals. Humans have the prerogative to promise, and in so doing are answerable for our own futures. We are responsible for ourselves, and it is not a responsibility we should take lightly. We cannot control much of the world that we live in… but who we become in that world, what we value and what we invest ourselves in, that is something that we can control. Something we can change.

Making big resolutions to change something in our life or about ourselves in 2026 might be too big of a commitment and that is why most of us end up failing. We get overwhelmed. But how about we make monthly, weekly or even daily resolutions instead? We can break these resolutions down into bite-sized pieces that are more easily achievable and can gradually create a larger impact.

David Penny, in “The Power of Small: Achieving Success through Bite-Sized New Year’s Resolutions,” came up with a guide to making resolutions, called the S.M.A.R.T Approach, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. The resolution must specify a definite and realistic goal that can be achieved within a time-frame. This makes its progress monitorable until its completion. Resolve to walk 5,000 steps a day for one week, instead of the more general resolution to lose weight or be fitter. Once achieved, it can be scaled up by increasing the steps to 7,000 or increasing the period to two weeks, then one month. One step at a time, we can keep on scaling up and improving.

And if we fail at achieving these bite-sized resolutions, it’s OK. Tomorrow is a new day, and we can try again. We only fail when we stop trying.

Happy new year, one and all, and may 2026 be the year that we all become more of who we want to be.