Getting Clear for the New Year: 2025 Edition
Instead of resolutions, try focusing on your values.
Happy New Year! For many people, the turn of the calendar means that it’s time to make resolutions. It seems fewer people are doing that each year. Last year, I read a report that 37% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, most having to do with improving health and finances. While most people are confident about their resolutions in January, the average resolution lasts just under four months. Maybe the high failure rate is one of the reasons that fewer people make resolutions now.
I’ve never been into the idea of resolutions. For one reason, I work on an academic calendar so the start of my year is really around August, which is when I do my major goal-setting for the year. In January, I revisit those goals. I celebrate the places where I’ve made progress and decide whether any of my goals need to be revised or discarded. I think of my goals more as hopes than resolutions. They are always evolving to accommodate the realities of my life. Because life be lifin’. Sometimes life circumstances do not support the hopes that I had at a different point in the year. That is not failure; it’s a signal that I need to adapt my goals.
Self-care is always prominent among my goals. And it’s even more important for 2025. In less than three weeks, we’ll be facing the chaos of the new presidential administration. Many people are mobilizing in anticipation of the harm that will befall many people as America becomes a full-fledged oligarchy. During the last Trump administration, I recall waking up each day to look at the news, wondering what fresh hell had befallen overnight. With Elon Musk as the shadow president, things are likely to be even worse. We have to take care of ourselves and each other as we gear up for the fight. We have to be intentional and strategic about how we fight, so that we do not lose ourselves in the process, so that we do not become that which we hate. So while many people might find self-care and resolution-setting to be the last thing we need to focus on right now, I think it’s critical.
Over the past few years, I’ve broadened my approach to goal-setting to focus not just on what I want to do, but who I want to be. I focus on getting clear about my values and priorities in five areas: what I want to do, what I want to learn, who I want to be, who I want to spend time with, and what I want to own. For each area, I also reflect on why it’s important to me and how I plan to live it out.
This process takes a little longer than the typical resolution-making process. But taking the time to get clear about my priorities at the beginning of the year (whether it’s a calendar year, an academic year, or a fiscal year) helps me to make decisions that are aligned with those priorities during the rest of that time.
I invite you to join me in this process. Below you’ll find the worksheet that I’ve been using to do this for the past few years. In the next post, I’ll share some tips about developing a Rule of Life, including a planning worksheet that you won’t find anywhere else.
What is becoming clear for you as you think about your values and priorities for 2025? Leave a comment and let us know.
It’s becoming clear that I can’t fight every fight. Sometimes I can’t fight anything, and I’m tired of fighting with and for people who simply don’t care or understand (family or otherwise). I’m not saying I’m happy when I’m not. For my sanity and health, I’ve stopped the knee-jerk. And I hired a writing coach to help me stay on track in my personal projects. But I did all of this way before Jan 1.
This is very helpful! Thank you.