No More Flimsy New Year’s Resolutions: Create Robust Goals for 2025

Introduction

Every year, millions of us dive into New Year’s resolutions with high hopes. Eat healthier. Exercise more. Save money. But by February, most of these resolutions have fizzled out - lost in the chaos of everyday life or abandoned because they were too vague, unrealistic, or disconnected from what we truly value.

The problem isn’t a lack of willpower; it’s a lack of clarity and alignment. Goals like “I want to get fitter” or “I’ll work less” sound good in theory, but they’re flimsy because they don’t connect to your current reality or long-term aspirations. It’s no wonder they don’t last.

What if you could set goals for 2025 that were different - robust, meaningful, and truly achievable? Goals that reflect who you are, where you are, and where you want to go?

This article will help you move beyond flimsy resolutions. We’ll explore practical strategies like using divergent and convergent thinking to define your vision, reflecting deeply on your current position, and aligning your goals with your identity and values. We’ll also introduce gratitude as a powerful tool to inspire and ground your plans.

Don’t wait until January 1 to make a fresh start.

Now is the time to reflect, plan, and position yourself for a better 2025. Let’s get started.

Start With Where You Are

Before you can create robust goals for 2025, you need a clear understanding of your current situation. Many resolutions fail because they’re based on vague aspirations - like “I want to be healthier” or “I’ll work less” without grounding those goals in the reality of who you are, what you value, and the challenges you face.

It’s like trying to plan a road trip without knowing where you’re starting from. You might set off in the wrong direction, get lost, or end up at a destination you didn’t even want. To create goals that truly work, you need to take stock of where you’re starting.

Step 1: Reflect on 2024

Think back on this past year. What went well? What didn’t? Are there frustrations or unfinished business that are weighing on you?

Start by writing down three specific challenges or frustrations you faced in 2024. For example:

• “I felt burnt out by my workload.”
• “My fitness routine was inconsistent.”
• “I didn’t spend enough time with my family.”

These reflections will help you identify areas for growth. But don’t stop at the surface—dig deeper using the 5 Whys technique to uncover the root causes behind these challenges.

Step 2: Dig Deeper with the 5 Whys

The 5 Whys is a simple yet powerful tool for understanding the “why” behind your frustrations and desires. It helps you move beyond superficial goals to uncover what truly matters.

Example 1: Work Burnout

• Why do I feel burnt out? Because I’m overwhelmed by the amount of work I take on.
• Why do I take on so much work? Because I struggle to delegate or say no.
• Why do I struggle to say no? Because I feel guilty or worry I’ll disappoint others.
• Why do I feel guilty? Because I equate my value with how much I can help others.
• Why do I think that way? Because I’ve never taken time to challenge this belief.

This process reveals that the real issue isn’t workload alone - it’s a mindset issue. A more meaningful goal might be to work on setting boundaries and learning to delegate, rather than vaguely resolving to “work less.”

Example 2: Health Goals

• Why do I want to be healthier? Because I feel tired and out of shape.
• Why do I feel tired? Because I don’t get enough sleep.
• Why don’t I get enough sleep? Because I work late into the night.
• Why do I work late? Because I don’t manage my daytime hours effectively.
• Why don’t I manage my time effectively? Because I don’t have a structured daily routine.

Here, the underlying issue isn’t just about diet or exercise - it’s about time management and prioritising rest. Addressing these root causes will create the foundation for lasting change.

Step 3: Align Goals with Your Values and Identity

Once you’ve reflected on your challenges and uncovered their root causes, the next step is to align your goals with your values and sense of identity. Goals that aren’t aligned with who you are will feel forced and unsustainable.

Ask yourself:

• What do I value most - freedom, health, relationships, creativity, stability?
• How does this goal align with those values?
• Will achieving this goal help me become the person I want to be?

Example: If your top value is family but your goal is to grow your business, think about how to structure that growth in a way that preserves time for loved ones. On the other hand, if your goal doesn’t reflect your values - like training for a marathon because it “sounds impressive” but isn’t something you enjoy - it’s worth reconsidering.

Step 4: Gratitude as a Starting Point

Before diving into goal-setting, take a moment to acknowledge what’s already working in your life. Gratitude helps shift your focus from “what’s missing” to “what’s strong,” giving you a foundation to build on.

Write down three things from 2024 you’re grateful for. For example:

• “I maintained a strong relationship with my best friend.”
• “I learned new skills in my job.”
• “I made progress on my fitness goals, even if it wasn’t perfect.”

These reflections can guide your goals for 2025. For example, if you’re grateful for personal growth, you might focus on expanding that growth through learning or mentorship.

Practical Exercise: Create a Snapshot of Where You Are

To set yourself up for robust goals in 2025, take these steps:

1. Write down three frustrations or challenges from 2024.
2. Use the 5 Whys to uncover the root causes behind them.
3. Reflect on your values and identify which goals align with them.
4. List three things you’re grateful for and think about how you can build on those strengths.

By starting with where you are, you’ll create goals that are meaningful, achievable, and deeply aligned with who you are.

In the next section, we’ll explore how to generate creative, actionable ideas for 2025 using divergent and convergent thinking.

Section 2: Think Better - Divergent and Convergent Thinking

Once you’ve reflected on where you are and uncovered what truly matters, the next step is to generate and refine meaningful goals for 2025. This is where divergent and convergent thinking come into play. These tools can help you expand your imagination, explore possibilities, and narrow down your goals to those that are both inspiring and achievable.

What Are Divergent and Convergent Thinking?

• Divergent Thinking: This is the creative, open-ended process of brainstorming without limits. It’s about exploring a wide range of ideas - big, small, and everything in between. The goal is to think freely and come up with as many options as possible, without judging their practicality or feasibility yet.
• Convergent Thinking: This is the focused, analytical process of narrowing down options to find the most viable and aligned goals. It’s about evaluating your ideas against your values, priorities, and current resources to select goals that fit your life.

By combining these two approaches, you can create a balanced plan that is both innovative and realistic.

Step 1: Divergent Thinking - Explore the Possibilities

Start with brainstorming. This is the time to let your imagination run wild and think about what you’d love to achieve in 2025, regardless of how feasible it feels at the moment.

Prompt Questions for Brainstorming:

• What excites me about the year ahead?
• If I had unlimited time or resources, what would I want to achieve?
• What areas of my life - health, career, relationships - could I improve?
• What would I regret not doing if I looked back at the end of 2025?

Example: Alex, a small business owner, brainstorms the following goals:

• Launch a new product line.
• Grow the business by 50%.
• Take a family holiday to reconnect with loved ones.
• Attend a conference to learn new skills.
• Improve personal fitness through strength training.

At this stage, there are no wrong answers. The goal is to create a big list of possibilities.

Step 2: Convergent Thinking - Refine Your Focus

Now it’s time to narrow down your ideas into a manageable, meaningful set of goals. Use convergent thinking to evaluate which goals align with your values, are achievable in your current circumstances, and will bring you the most satisfaction.

Criteria for Refining Goals:

1. Does it align with my values? Example: If family is a top value, prioritise goals like the family holiday or freeing up time for loved ones.
2. Is it realistic? Example: If growing the business by 50% feels too ambitious, scale it down to something achievable, like a 20% increase.
3. Does it excite and motivate me? Example: If attending a conference doesn’t feel energising, replace it with an activity that sparks enthusiasm.

Example (Refined Goals): After evaluating his brainstorm, Alex narrows his list to:

• Launch a new product line by mid-year.
• Take a two-week family holiday in July.
• Improve personal fitness by strength training twice a week.

Step 3: Blend Divergence and Convergence for Goal Creation

To create goals that are both inspiring and actionable, you need to strike a balance between dreaming big and staying grounded.

Practical Exercise:

1. Take 10 minutes to brainstorm a list of everything you’d like to achieve in 2025 (divergent thinking).
2. Rank each idea on a scale of 1 to 5 for: Alignment with your values. Feasibility based on your current resources. Excitement or motivation.
3. Select the top 3–5 goals with the highest scores (convergent thinking).

Example Output: If your brainstorm includes “write a book,” “lose weight,” and “save money,” but you’re more passionate about writing, you might choose to prioritise “write a book” and set clear, actionable steps for achieving it.

Step 4: Use Gratitude to Inform Your Goals

Look at what you’re already grateful for in your life and consider how your goals can build on those strengths - you create a foundation to build on rather than starting from a place of lack.

1. Boosts Optimism and Resilience: Gratitude helps you focus on progress rather than setbacks. This makes it easier to persevere when challenges arise.
2. Clarifies What Matters Most: Gratitude highlights the aspects of your life that bring joy and meaning, which can guide your priorities.
3. Encourages Self-Compassion: Gratitude allows you to celebrate your wins, no matter how small, and reduces the pressure to chase perfection.

Practical Exercise: Start Your 2025 Goals with Gratitude

1. Write down three things from 2024 that you’re most grateful for.
2. Reflect on how each of these can inspire or shape your goals for 2025.
3. Use these reflections to refine one of your goals to make it more meaningful.

Why This Process Works

Divergent and convergent thinking give structure to the goal-setting process. They help you move beyond vague, fleeting resolutions and create goals that are clear, aligned, and achievable. By combining creativity with analysis, you can set yourself up for success in 2025 while staying connected to what truly matters.

Section 3: Build a Strong Personal Position for 2025

Once you’ve reflected on where you are and embraced gratitude, it’s time to get practical about positioning yourself for success in 2025.

Great goals require a strong foundation. By analysing your resources, creating bandwidth for change, and building sustainable habits, you’ll set yourself up to achieve your goals while staying flexible and resilient.

Step 1: Analyse Your Resources

Your goals will depend on the time, energy, finances, and skills you have available. Understanding your resources helps you set realistic goals and identify areas where you might need support.

Key Areas to Evaluate:

1. Time: How much free time can you realistically dedicate to your goals?
2. Energy: Are you physically and mentally ready to tackle your goals?
3. Finances: Do you have the financial stability needed for your goals?
4. Skills: Do you already have the skills required, or will you need to develop them?

Practical Tip: Create a simple table listing your strengths and areas for improvement across these four categories. Use this as a starting point to refine your goals.

Step 2: Create Bandwidth for Change

One of the biggest reasons goals fail is because people overcommit without leaving room for flexibility. Change requires mental, emotional, and logistical bandwidth. To make space for growth, you may need to let go of things that no longer serve you.

Strategies to Free Up Space:

1. Say No to Low-Value Commitments: Review your calendar and identify tasks or obligations that don’t align with your priorities. Politely decline or delegate them.
2. Streamline Your Routine: Simplify daily tasks by using tools, automation, or better organisation. Example: Meal prep on Sundays to save time and energy during the week.
3. Protect Your Energy: Set boundaries to avoid overworking or stretching yourself too thin. Example: Commit to unplugging from work emails after 8 p.m.

Practical Tip: Write down one thing you’ll stop doing in 2025 to make room for your top priorities.

Step 3: Build Habits, Not Just Goals

Sustainable habits are the engine behind achieving long-term goals. While goals provide direction, habits create the consistent actions needed to reach them.

How to Build Effective Habits:

1. Start Small: Break your goal into tiny, manageable steps that feel easy to achieve. Example: If your goal is to exercise more, start with a 10-minute walk each day instead of committing to a full workout plan right away.
2. Anchor New Habits to Existing Routines: Use habits you already have as a trigger for new ones. Example: Do 10 push-ups right after brushing your teeth or spend 5 minutes journaling after your morning coffee.
3. Track Your Progress: Use a journal, app, or calendar to track your consistency and celebrate small wins.

Example: Goal: Improve fitness.

• Small habit: Stretch for 5 minutes every morning.
• Habit trigger: Stretching right after waking up.
• Tracking: Mark a daily habit tracker to stay motivated.

Step 4: Embrace a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that skills and abilities can be developed through effort and learning. This mindset allows you to see challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.

How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset:

1. Focus on Learning, Not Just Results: View every step as a chance to grow, even if you don’t achieve your goal immediately. Example: If you’re learning a new language, celebrate being able to hold a basic conversation, even if you’re not fluent yet.
2. Reframe Failures: Treat setbacks as data, not defeats. Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this experience?”
3. Surround Yourself with Encouragement: Seek out supportive people who inspire and motivate you.

Example: If your goal is to build a side business but a marketing plan doesn’t work, reflect on what went wrong and adjust your strategy.

Practical Exercise: Build Your 2025 Foundation

1. Write down your top 1–3 goals for 2025.
2. Evaluate your resources: time, energy, finances, and skills. Identify strengths and gaps for each goal.
3. List one thing you’ll stop doing in 2025 to make space for your goals.
4. Break each goal into small, sustainable habits and write down your first steps.
5. Commit to approaching challenges with a growth mindset—write one sentence about how you’ll reframe setbacks as opportunities.

By building a strong personal position - analysing resources, creating space for change, and developing habits - you’ll be ready to pursue your 2025 goals with clarity and resilience. In the next section, we’ll explore how better decision-making and openness to serendipity can help you embrace unexpected opportunities along the way.

Conclusion: Building a Better 2025

As you reflect on your goals for 2025, it’s worth remembering Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - a framework that reminds us to prioritise the foundational aspects of our lives before reaching for the highest levels of growth.

At its core, Maslow’s model highlights the importance of addressing basic needs (like health, security, and relationships) before striving for self-actualisation - the realisation of our full potential.

The same principle applies to setting goals. Before leaping into ambitious plans, ensure you’re building on a stable foundation. Ask yourself:

• Are my goals aligned with my values and current reality?
• Do they support my core needs, like physical and mental well-being?
• Am I creating space for creativity, growth, and flexibility along the way?

When you position yourself with a strong base - through better thinking, gratitude, and sustainable habits - you’re not just setting resolutions; you’re creating the conditions for long-term success and fulfilment.

The Path to Self-Actualisation

Maslow’s highest level - self-actualisation - isn’t about achieving a single, grand goal. It’s about continuously growing, learning, and becoming the best version of yourself. By setting clear, meaningful goals that align with who you are today, you’ll build momentum toward that ideal.

Remember: it’s not just about the outcomes but the journey itself. Each step forward - whether it’s cultivating a new habit, overcoming a challenge, or embracing a moment of gratitude - is progress.

A Final Call to Action

2025 doesn’t have to begin with flimsy resolutions that fade by February. Start now by reflecting on where you are, embracing gratitude for what you have, and setting realistic goals that align with your values.

Combine better thinking with bold action, and leave room for unexpected opportunities along the way.

As Maslow reminds us, self-actualisation isn’t a destination; it’s a process of growth. Your best year starts with the small, deliberate steps you take today.

Make 2025 your year of clarity, purpose, and fulfilment. Let’s begin.

All the best for 2025!

Frank Choy

15 December 2024

Recommended reading

Practical Goal-Setting and Habits

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear - building effective, sustainable habits through small, incremental changes.

"The One Thing" by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan - the importance of prioritisation and achieving extraordinary results by focusing on what truly matters.

"Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg McKeown - how to cut through the noise, focus on what’s essential, and eliminate what doesn’t align with your values.

Personal Growth and Self-Reflection

"Man’s Search for Meaning" by Viktor E. Frankl - on the deep human need for purpose and meaning, providing insight into how to align goals with values.

"Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth - how persistence and passion are critical for achieving long-term success.

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey - a framework for personal effectiveness, including aligning actions with values and long-term goals.

Mindset and Gratitude

"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle - on mindfulness and gratitude, helping readers focus on the present moment as a foundation for clarity and growth.

"The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brené Brown - on self-compassion, authenticity, and gratitude as pathways to a more fulfilled and aligned life.

Better Thinking and Decision-Making

"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman - how the mind works, particularly the interplay between intuitive and analytical thinking - key for divergent and convergent decision-making.

"Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action" by Simon Sinek - uncover the deeper purpose behind their actions and goals, tying directly to the article’s 5 Whys technique.