How to Make 2026 the Year Your Health Goals Stick (by Understanding Why Most New Year's Resolutions Fail)

Every January, millions of people set New Year’s resolutions and health goals with the best of intentions—only to abandon them weeks (or even days) later. This isn’t a failure of motivation or discipline. It’s a predictable outcome of how most goals are designed.

The core of our work at HBD is to understand healthy habits and sustainable behavior change - and one of the most frustrating times for us is January - when we see so many people set themselves up for failure and take backward steps on their health journey.

Traditional resolutions often fail for a few common reasons. They tend to be vague (“get healthier”), overly ambitious (“work out every day”), disconnected from personal values, and be overly reliant on willpower. Research from Harvard Health highlights that goals lacking clarity, realism, and planning are far less likely to stick—especially once daily stress and competing demands return.

From a health and wellbeing perspective, this matters. Chronic stress reduces executive function in the brain, making planning, self-regulation, and consistency more difficult. When goals don’t account for this reality, they can become another source of guilt or frustration rather than a pathway to better health.

The good news is that behavioral science and health psychology offer a more effective approach.

Evidence-Based Tips for More Sustainable Health Goals in 2026

1. Make goals specific and small: Clear, concrete behaviors are easier for the brain to execute. “Walk for 15 minutes after lunch three days a week” is far more actionable than “exercise more.” The Mayo Clinic emphasizes that breaking goals into smaller steps increases confidence and follow-through.

2. Focus on systems, not willpower: Willpower fluctuates with stress, sleep, and workload. Instead of relying on motivation alone, design systems that make healthy behaviors easier—like scheduling movement into your calendar or preparing healthy options in advance. Changes you make to your environment are also incredibly powerful - such as not having junk food in the house - meaning when your willpower is low, there's nothing you can reach for.

3. Anchor goals to values: Behavior change is more sustainable when goals connect to something meaningful—energy to show up for family, focus at work, or long-term health. When people understand why a behavior matters, persistence improves. Why is your health important to you?

4. Plan for imperfection: Missed days are inevitable. Sustainable change is about long-term consistency, not daily execution. Change is about flexible adaptation and coming back to the plan, not perfection. Decide in advance how you’ll restart after disruptions so one setback doesn’t derail progress.

5. Start smaller than you think: Behavior scientist BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits approach shows that starting with very small actions builds consistency and identity over time.

As we move into 2026, the opportunity isn’t to “try harder,” but to design health goals that align with how humans actually change. When goals are realistic, values-driven, and supported by thoughtful systems, meaningful progress becomes not only possible—but sustainable.

Want your entire workforce to make more sustainable health improvements? HBD's award winning workplace health and wellbeing programs are grounded in science, and consistently return the best total workforce behavior change outcomes in the wellness industry. Having healthy people isn't only about controlling your workforce costs (although it certainly helps), it's about optimizing your organization's greatest asset, and positioning your business for sustainable success. Contact us for information about our industry-best program outcomes and to learn how we can help your people with their greatest superpower: Their health.