According to\u00a0Pew Research Center data from 2024, three out of 10 Americans reported having made at least one resolution. More than half of respondents said they made more than one.<\/b>
\nDear Reader: How can you stick the landing with your New Year\u2019s resolutions?
Goal-setting is no stranger to this time of year, but what happens in February and beyond when the new year has faded?
If you\u2019re among the many Americans who will make resolutions for the shiny new year, you\u2019re not alone. According to Pew Research Center data from 2024, three out of 10 Americans reported having made at least one resolution. More than half of respondents said they made more than one.
The difference between making a broad intention and accomplishing it can be attributed to the execution by creating action-oriented, small, integral steps like revising your resume, setting up job alerts, reaching out to two people in your network on a weekly basis and more.
Sarah Glova, Ph.D., researcher, writer and keynote speaker, interviewed hundreds of people about how they\u2019ve achieved really big things. She noticed a pattern based on getting specific, setting priorities and thinking about community.
In her TEDx Talk, \u201cHow to achieve your goals with a single page,\u201d she said, \u201cWhen do I want to do it by? What does working on it look like? Get really specific until this goal is just yours and it doesn\u2019t take up much space. Interview yourself around this goal.\u201d
Glova said your goal plan should fit onto one page. Focus on your goal \u2014 what is it? What\u2019s your why? And don\u2019t go around it. For instance, if you loathe your job and say you\u2019re getting a new one, are you going after that job search? Or are you pursuing activities that, while helpful, are not getting to the heart of your goal?
When it comes to the people she interviews, Glova said, \u201cEvery time you talk to them, they say, \u2018I\u2019m tweaking my resume.\u2019 You may ask if they applied anywhere; they may say they\u2019re getting new headshots for their LinkedIn profile. Every time you talk to them, they\u2019re spending their time setting those dominoes up just right. They\u2019re in that planning phase. It\u2019s safe and productive, but are they putting themselves out there for those really big actions?\u201d
While you\u2019re being clear and specific, in the middle of the page, jot down deadlines and milestones for \u201cbig things that move the needle.\u201d It can be something as simple as writing \u201cdate \u2014 milestone\u201d a few times. \u201cWhen you keep moving, you\u2019ll get further ahead,\u201d said Glova, who noticed the people she interviewed got really good at keeping moving forward based on their priorities.
The third part of the page relies on community when you get stuck. \u201cIt\u2019s not if you get stuck, it\u2019s when you get stuck,\u201d said Glova. \u201cWhen you\u2019re working on something really big, something you haven\u2019t had before, you\u2019re going to get stuck. It\u2019s really important to think about the people who will help and support us.\u201d<\/p>\n