How can we really stick to our new years resolutions?

In the waning hours of the year, we all make promises to ourselves about the kind of person we’ll be next year. We’ll definitely hit the gym regularly, read more, get up earlier and eat better. 

Then the alarm rudely goes off on the 30th of January, often giving way to a cold morning (even surprisingly, if you’re a fellow Texan) and suddenly the promises you made to the future are being weighed up against 5 more minutes of snooze.

Our professional resolutions in the workplace are perhaps even harder to keep. As we log back on and look at the depressingly high number of unread emails, it’s easy to get swept away by the next quarterly event or an immediate Slack request. 

As we approach the end of January - a key milestone in seeing whether this new habits hold - I thought I’d think about how we can make things last throughout the year in the workplace, which also might help us in our own lives too.

My 2026 Resolutions 

It wouldn’t be fair for me to offer advice without first offering up my 2026 resolutions:

1. Be more deliberate with my time, protecting space for deep thinking rather than defaulting to back-to-back meetings

2. Communicate earlier and more clearly, even when the answer isn’t fully formed

3. Invest more in long-term relationships, not just the conversations driven by immediate deliverables.

Nothing groundbreaking - but deliberately chosen because they address recurring patterns, not one-off behaviours.

How to keep your 2026 corporate resolutions

1. Make systems, not decisions 

“Be more strategic” is not a resolution; it’s a hope. Real change comes from systems. If you want to think more strategically, block two hours (or even just an hour) every week, or even better each day for uninterrupted thinking. If you want to communicate better, decide that every project starts with a written document. It could be a paragraph or a page, but systems survive busy periods; intentions don’t.

2. Tie them to friction, not motivation 

Motivation fades quickly, especially by mid-February. Instead, design friction into the wrong behaviours. Turn off default meeting lengths. Decline meetings without an agenda. Cancel meetings that have lost their usefulness. Set clear internal deadlines that force early thinking. Good habits often stick not because they’re inspiring, but because the alternative becomes inconvenient.

3. Anchor resolutions to existing moments 

Don’t invent new rituals if you can attach resolutions to ones that already exist. Use your weekly team meeting to check progress against one resolution. Use quarterly planning to reflect on what you’ve deprioritised. Habits stick when they piggyback on routines that already happen.

4. Make progress visible 

Corporate resolutions die quietly because no one notices when they slip. Find lightweight ways to track progress - a shared doc, a monthly note to yourself, or a quick end-of-quarter reflection. Visibility creates accountability without turning resolutions into performance theatre.

5. Accept imperfection early 

Missing a week doesn’t mean the resolution has failed. The real danger is the “I’ve already blown it” mindset. The most durable habits are resumed quickly after disruption, not followed perfectly.

Most resolutions don’t fail because they were bad ideas - they fail because they were vague, invisible, or dependent on willpower. Treat your resolutions like you would any serious corporate initiative: define them clearly, build them into how you work, and review them often. With 11 more months left this year, there are multitude of opportunities to recover lost ground where we may have hit the snooze button.