How can project managers keep their New Year’s resolutions in 2026?

Why do we persist in making New Year’s resolutions despite knowing that most will likely be ditched? Is it because project professionals just need to have set goals, a tick-list and some defined outcomes in their lives? Perhaps they have more luck in achieving them than most.

But most resolutions fail because little thought is given to how they will be put into place or measured, explains Spencer Greenberg, founder of Clearer Thinking, an organisation that helps improve decision-making, but project professionals have a natural head start thanks to their training and propensity for rigorous organisational skills (and a love of milestones and schedules).

But why do we limit ourselves to a self-improvement bonanza once a year, when it might be more effective to make incremental changes throughout?

“New Year’s resolutions are worthwhile because it’s always worth resolving to work on improving our lives or aiming to become better versions of ourselves. If the New Year serves as an opportunity to do so, that’s great. But, of course, we shouldn’t feel limited to only doing so at the start of the year,” suggests Greenberg.

Constant, small steps taken in a spirit of optimism might be more achievable than one huge leap, after all.

Here are four of Greenberg’s tips for sticking with your resolutions.

1. Set up new habits

You can improve your success rates with New Year’s resolutions (or any resolutions) by establishing new, healthy habits.

“We conducted two studies on what works for successfully forming new habits, putting 22 different techniques to the test. One promising technique we identified is what we call ‘habit reflection’. You simply think back to a previous time when you successfully made or changed a habit. Then you identify what factors and techniques led to your success in that situation, and then you write down ways you can apply those same techniques for the new habit you are aiming to form,” says Greenberg.

(Clearer Thinking’s free Daily Ritual tool walks you through the process of setting up and committing to a habit.)

2. Focus on behaviours, not goals

“People often make New Year’s resolutions that are focused on goals, but whether or not we achieve goals often depends not only on our behaviours (which we have control over), but also on external factors that we don’t control,” Greenberg explains.

“It can be useful to focus on behaviours instead; for example, to reflect on what new behaviours or habits you want to have in the New Year, or what old behaviours or habits you want to work on reducing or getting rid of.”

3. Schedule check-ins and milestones

“It’s valuable to have check-ins and milestones when forming resolutions, rather than treating resolutions as something to be checked in on the following year. They can allow for critical course correction,” says Greenberg.

For instance, if your plan is to create a new healthy habit of doing a quick workout before work, you may want to schedule a self-check-in on 1 March to think about how it is going and what is or isn’t working. You can also ask a friend or loved one to check in on your habit goal if you’re the sort of person who finds social accountability helpful.

Setting up reminders and keeping track of when you do your habit successfully can also be useful.
(Clearer Thinking created a free app, called Thought Saver, that lets you design habits and daily goals and then track them.)

4. Continued effort is needed

“Self-improvement usually requires continued effort to work. It’s not something that can be relegated to a single time of the year. If the New Year is an excuse to set goals to self-improve, that’s great, and worth taking advantage of, but ideally, we should routinely revisit the question of how we can be more like the ideal version of ourselves, and what behaviours we can adjust to help us do so,” says Greenberg.

Good luck!