The Hidden Reason New Year’s Resolutions Rarely Last
- Brainz Magazine
- Jan 10
- 6 min read
Madelyn Harman is a Women’s Lifestyle Transformation Coach and the founder of Ignite Fitness. After overcoming her own body image struggles, she now supports women in reclaiming confidence through holistic fitness, mindset work, and sustainable lifestyle change.
Are you ready to 'actually' crush your New Year’s goals this time? Dive in with me as we explore the hidden reason why 99% of people don’t achieve their goals and how you can finally succeed! Each year, New Year’s resolutions are made with hope, motivation, and a genuine desire for change, yet many quietly lose momentum within weeks. This is often framed as a lack of discipline or follow-through, but my experience in the health and personal development space has shown otherwise. Through this article, my goal is to help you uncover the real reasons resolutions rarely last, and to offer a clearer, more sustainable way to approach goal setting so that the intentions you set this year have the opportunity to extend well beyond January.
Stop, drop, burnout
In a world today where “Hustle Culture” has taken over and silently strangled the peace, freedom, and contentment of America’s mainstream society, what I am about to speak on is so utterly crucial when it comes to focusing on what really matters and making progress instead of spinning your wheels a million times in the mud of unfocused intentionality. This pattern is well-documented in research on habit formation and long-term behavior change, yet it’s often overlooked in mainstream goal-setting conversations. Buckle up!
As a female entrepreneur/business owner and ambitious, goal-oriented leader, I connect fiercely to the statements that always pop up this time of year, such as burnout, self-care, New Year’s resolutions, and goal setting, along with all the other things that get thrown around with the end-of-year exhaustion and New Year excitement/dread around the corner.
It’s not just business owners, either. Being in the health & wellness space for 4+ years, I have keenly observed one notable thing: it’s a graveyard of R.I.P. good intentions and “See you in the next life, success and consistency!” It’s incredibly tragic, if I’m being honest. Looking to the right and left, passing by those who have set out on a great mission, not only in the business stream but the personal health & wellness stream, and turning sideways in less than half a second. But why?
I’ve asked myself this a lot in the past. Why do people fail so frequently, so violently, and so many times when it comes to their ambitions in health, wellness, mindset, etc.? My journey as a Life Coach and wary observer of trends, habits, and patterns has revealed a few enormous causes. Allow me to share some insight:
1. Lack of clarity & vision
Many people have a solid general idea of what they want, but very few have a specific vision for what they want. This is the first problem. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Quite literally in the physical world, too. We are chasing our own tails the instant we don’t have clarity on what we are actually trying to achieve, and, therefore, we fail at anything we attempt because there is no bullseye to even hit. Clarity isn’t just motivational, it’s neurological. Studies show that clear, written goals activate the brain’s reticular activating system, increasing focus and follow-through.
How to fix this? I highly suggest journaling/writing down things that you are able to envision wanting in your life. Get it in front of you on paper. Why is this powerful? Our brain needs to offload information that is floating around, and the visionary aspect of having it on paper in front of us is extremely powerful.
2. A weak 'why'
“When the Why is not strong enough, the How will never be big enough.” I like to describe the Why as the gasoline in your engine. As soon as it runs low, your vehicle is not going anywhere; it is the powerhouse of your dreams, goals, and ambitions. Here’s an example: If Jimmy sets out to accomplish a marathon by the end of 2026, but his why is that his friend Jerry is running one and told him it would be a good idea to do it too, so he can get in shape, then I can guarantee you that Jimmy will not follow through, even until the end of January. Unless Jimmy becomes intrinsically motivated to do this for himself. Keywords. When Jimmy now owns that goal of running a marathon because his Why is, “If I do this, I will have the body, the confidence, the stamina, and the respect that I’ve always dreamed of, and if I 'don't' do it, I will feel ashamed, still be overweight, struggling with self-esteem, lose my family’s respect, and ultimately let myself and my friend down”? Now that is something that will keep Jimmy accountable to his goals, and he will make it a priority, not a backburner pot on the stove.
How to fix this? If you find yourself struggling to invest in working toward your goal and sticking with something you committed to recently (or a while ago), I challenge you to question your why. Again, going back to paper, write this out. State the specific goal that you have already accomplished, writing it down from 1, and now get really clear on your why. Why is this important to me? Why do I need to achieve this? What does it mean to me if I accomplish it? What does it mean if I don’t? Then pay attention to the energy this gives you. If you come out of that brainstorm just exhausted, mentally fatigued, drained, and ultimately questioning if you put the right thoughts on paper, then I think you should reconsider if that goal is really meant for you at this time or if you’re forcing it, just a thought.
3. Biting off more than resolutions can handle
Pretty much everyone is good at eating. The problem comes when most of us are also good at putting more on our plates than our stomachs are capable of handling. This is true, too, in the realm of goal-setting. We set our eyes on the Feast of the Future and begin to implement every imaginable task that could get us there, failing to realize that our engines are not capable of going from 0-100 in 0.3 seconds flat. Nope. Not gonna happen. We love to overachieve, overdream, and overcomplicate. I’m definitely not here to stifle dreams or encourage you to dream small, but only to take a step back and approach it more realistically. Here’s how.
How to fix this? Take a moment to breathe. Really. Let your excitement settle, your nerves calm down, and just allow yourself to take in the present moment. This is crucial. Normally, we allow ourselves to get caught up in the present moment of elation and the “could-be’s,” and I’m very guilty of this myself. So we need to calm down, let reality sink in just a tiny bit, and then take the next step. And that is to get physical. No, I don’t mean punch your co-worker you got pissed at this morning, I mean to physically put it in front of you. This helps you visualize what will need to take place. To do this, we start by working backwards. I need you to get down and dirty with visualizing this dream as strongly as you can. Get all the details, the feelings, the emotions, what exactly is taking place. Now we figure out what is missing from this picture in order to make that happen. Keep doing this all the way down the chain until you get one actionable step to take right now. That may be one thing, like calling an old friend to reconnect on an opportunity they offered 3 years ago, or it might be a habit you need to implement, like getting up at 6 a.m. instead of rolling out of bed at 7:58 a.m. to make it to work at 8 a.m. You get the drift. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Closing in on change
These are just a few of the patterns I repeatedly see in my work coaching individuals through sustainable change rather than burnout-driven motivation, and I hope this can help a few who are on the struggle bus of “Coach Madds! What in humanity do I do next?!” Obviously, there are many other reasons people may not achieve their resolutions this new year, but I challenge you to look closely and see if you can associate yourself with any of these listed above. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes we don’t want to admit we are failing at something, believe me, I do that often. I hate failing as much as anyone, yet this is what will help you the most. Revisit, recognize, shift, take action, see change. It’s simple but not necessarily easy. I wish you the best of luck, and, as always, I’m here if you need me! I’m just one call away.
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Read more from Madelyn Harman
Madelyn Harman, Women's Mindset & Fitness Coach
Madelyn Harman is a Women’s Lifestyle Transformation Coach and the founder of Ignite Fitness. After overcoming her own body image and confidence struggles, she now helps women build sustainable strength, energy, and self-worth through fitness, nutrition, and mindset coaching. Her programs focus on breaking perfectionism, healing body image, and creating confidence from the inside out. Madelyn is known for her holistic, psychology-based approach and mission to help women stop shrinking themselves and start fully showing up in their lives.
