Why Your New Year’s Resolutions are Built to Fail

Second Level Thinking · Issue 39

A better way to plan. Inside: end-of-year review frameworks and the templates I use for annual planning.

Like last year, our final newsletter for 2025 is a practical field guide for navigating the holiday period — which for a lot of people is one big, anxiety-fuelled festivity: dense social calendars, extended-family dynamics, overeating, too much alcohol, and the subtle feeling that you’re supposed to be enjoying it more than you are. If that isn’t enough, layer on an internal audit of everything you didn’t get done for the year, and you’ve got yourself the perfect cocktail for mental spin-outs.

The irony is we do want to reflect. We do want to plan. But if we try to do it in our head - casually, unstructured, between events - the brain tends to misbehave. If your mind is anything like mine, it slips into one of two traps:

The self-attack spiral:

• “What are you doing with your life?”

• “Still not done that, yet?”

• “Another year and you can’t even…”

The selective highlight reel:

• You overweight a couple of wins, ignore the context, and walk away falsely elated…until the next wave hits.

Either way, it’s not review. It’s distortion.

So this issue is built to keep you grounded and constructive: two end-of-year review processes and two annual planning templates to choose from. Couple that with one simple way to avoid the New Year’s resolution fallacy and a lightweight holiday operating system so you don’t start 2026 already burned out.

Don’t wait for January 01!

Reflection and planning should never be a once-a-year conversation for you or your business. Businesses that execute well don’t “hope for a good year.” They run a cadence: 90-day blocks, weekly check-ins, monthly roll-ups and quarterly resets. Frequency varies, but the point is simple:

We require defined processes and accountability. You don’t get fit in December. You don’t fix culture at year-end. You don’t create momentum with a fireworks display.

Personally, I would never wait until January 1 to stop an unhelpful behaviour, nor wait to start a helpful one. But the end of the year does feel different. Final, perhaps.

So let’s use that energy properly.

End-of-Year Review (1): Scorecard + Story

If you had defined objectives this year, your review is straightforward: rank performance against each objective and learn from the gap.

If you didn’t have anything documented, do it introspectively and capture your answers in a new worksheet/note.

Step 1: Rate your objectives

Use a blunt rating:

• Green: achieved/on track

• Amber: partial/inconsistent

• Red: missed/avoided

Step 2: Answer the framing questions

Construct responses in full sentences. Don’t freestyle in your head.

EOY Review Questions:

1. What accomplishments am I most proud of?

2. Which goals did I accomplish? Which didn’t I?

3. What actually caused the misses? (not the excuses).

4. What motivated me most this year?

5. What type of work/activity inspired me most?

6. What came easiest to me? What was friction-heavy?

7. What did I enjoy most? What drained me most? Why?

8. What core strengths helped me excel?

9. What step(s) would make goal pursuit more enjoyable next year?

10. What changes am I committing to moving forward?

Tip & trick (leaders): these questions double as a strong EOY performance review structure for direct reports. Rephrase as needed.

End-of-Year Review (2): Calendar 80/20 Energy Audit

This one is brutally effective because it bypasses memory bias.

Process

1. Review your calendar (or diary) week-by-week for the year.

2. Write down the people, places, projects, commitments, and routines that filled your cup.

3. Write down the people, places, projects, commitments, and routines that drained your cup.

4. Identify the big rocks that moved the needle.

You’re doing an 80/20 analysis on your life.

Outcome:

• Do more of list

• Do less of list

• A clear view of where time actually went (not where you think it went)

This is the raw material for next year’s plan.

Bridge: review is useless without decisions

Your review should lead to changes in behaviour, not just insight.

Remember:

• The urgent will always crush the important.

• Every yes is a no to something else.

• There is always an opportunity cost.

And there are:

1. Things we want to do.

2. Things we have to do.

3. Things we should do.

This isn’t about removing all “have-to’s.” It’s about nudging life toward the things that maximise agency and move you toward your purpose.

Annual Planning (1): Direction before goals

Start with direction. Not a giant list.

Framing questions

1. What are my goals for next year? Define them clearly.

2. Where do I want to be in 3–5 years? (shorten the horizon if needed).

3. Which areas do I want to grow in next year?

4. What help do I need, and who are the right people to support that?

5. What challenge am I most likely to face — or already facing?

Write the answers. Don’t just think them.

Annual Planning (2): Ruthless prioritisation + anti-goals

This is the one most people avoid (which is why they stay stuck).

The template

1. Write down your top 10 objectives for 2026.

2. Circle the 3–4 that matter most.

3. Everything else becomes your “avoid at all costs” list. Not because they’re bad — but because they’re not the main game.

Then go deeper:

• Where am I passively waiting for others to act?

• What proactive steps can I take?

• What weaknesses do I keep tripping over?

• How do I architect my life to avoid them?

• If a film crew followed me, what actions would I want documented? What actions would I hope they missed?

Personal buckets matter as much as professional ones

As you plan, separate professional objectives from personal pursuits (not leisure).

Personal goals might be:

• Behavioural or relationship-based.

• Fitness or health-related.

• Learning a skill.

• Community contribution.

• Solitude or recovery.

Treat them like professional goals or they get eaten alive by the universe.

Personally I run buckets:

• Fitness.

• Health & wellbeing.

• Learning/skill development.

• Family.

• Giving back.

Each bucket has objectives. Time gets allocated. Weekly review rolls-up into quarterly reset. We don’t wait for year-end to course correct. We course correct as fast as we want to improve.

Q1 Plan: where years are actually made

Forget trying to plan 12 months perfectly. Plan the next 90 days exceptionally.

Q1 Sprint (copy/paste)

Theme for 2026: ________________________

Three outcomes for the year: 1. __________ 2. __________ 3. __________

Q1 focus (one thing that makes the year easier): ________________________

Milestones: Jan: __________ Feb: __________ Mar: __________

Weekly inputs that drive this: 1. __________ 2. __________ 3. __________

One habit to start: __________

One habit to stop: __________

If you win Q1, the year follows.

New Year’s Resolutions (why they fail)

Resolutions fail because they’re usually personality makeovers disguised as goals. “I’ll be a new person.” “I’ll finally become disciplined.” “I’ll never do ___ again.”

Better model: Systems > goals.

You don’t rise to the level of your goals — you fall to the level of your systems.

So instead of resolutions, do a 30-minute course correction:

1. Bring the last month of your life (calendar/diary).

2. Bucket it: Personal, Family/Relationships, Work.

3. Identify one thing to eliminate in each bucket.

4. Identify one thing to add that makes a real difference.

5. Redirect the freed time into the added thing.

The harder the choice, the better the result.

Holiday Operating System (so you don’t re-enter exhausted)

The break isn’t just “rest.” It’s a transition, so we go lightweight, not perfectionist.

Three rules

1. Minimum viable routine. Keep baseline alive: movement, sleep anchor, sunlight.

2. No major life decisions. Tired brains make dramatic choices. Wait.

3. Capture ideas, don’t execute them yet. Write them down. Park them. Enjoy the break.

My minimum viable routine:

• Movement: __________

• Sleep range: __________

• Offline block: __________

Closing Remarks

Under no circumstance do you need a “perfect plan.” You need a clear direction, a small number of priorities, and a cadence that keeps you honest.

So as you head into the festive blur:

• Review with structure.

• Plan with restraint.

• Protect the baseline.

• Re-enter with momentum.

Parting Shot

Until we reconnect mid-January, thanks for your support this year. And remember the Stoic keys to happiness:

1. Focus on what you can control.
2. Ignore the inessential.
3. Don’t compare yourself to others.
4. Do good to feel good.
5. Read philosophy every day.
6. You fill in the blank…

P.S. If you land on your 2026 theme over the break, send it through. I’d love to hear where you’re pointing the compass next.