Looking to get in touch with a range of mental health professionals, including psychologists, licensed therapists, behavioral scientists, and clinical counselors, for a story exploring why the brain craves resolutions and goal setting at the start of a new year, as well as actionable, evidence-based strategies to stick to them. Please get in touch with your initial thoughts and credentials. I’ll be following up with questions. The posted deadline refers to when to get in touch, not when responses are due.

I am a licensed psychotherapist who is actively starting to see the goal-setting starting as early as October. Tasks begin to be pushed to "at the start of the year" as a way to relieve themselves of their self-criticism. I would love to share more thoughts and some behaviors people can implement to stick to their goals.

Why New Year's resolutions feel so good (at first): Our brains love fresh starts. When we think about new possibilities, our brain releases dopamine — basically a chemical that makes us feel excited and motivated. New Year's is perfect for this because everyone's doing it together. The problem? That excited feeling doesn't last. By February, most people's motivation crashes. Why? Dopamine gives you a quick burst of energy, but it fades quickly. To make a resolution last, you need to build habits that make you feel good in ther ways -- feeling connected to people, a sense of pride, or enjoying the consistency (e.g. checking the daily checkbox you completed your resolution). Connect goals to who you want to be, not just what you want to do. Instead of "I'll work out every day," think "I'm becoming someone who takes care of their body." This makes the habit feel like part of your identity, which makes it way easier to stick with. Tie your new habits to positive emotions — like feeling calmer, clearer, or proud of yourself — instead of just hitting some number or deadline. Create mini fresh starts throughout the year. Your brain stays motivated when you mix things up regularly - we crave novelty, so one idea is to create an overarching resolution with mini projects, as a suggestion. Get support from other people. Finding an accountability buddy helps a great deal.

The brain's dopamine system gets rewired every January because we're neurologically hardwired to seek novelty and reset, which triggers a surge in motivational chemistry—then we crash when reality doesn't match the fantasy we built in our heads. New Year's resolutions tap into something deeper than willpower. Your prefrontal cortex, the rational planning center, gets a dopamine boost from imagining a future self. That feels productive, so most people stop there. But the anterior cingulate cortex, which handles actual behavioral change and error correction, requires something entirely different—it needs friction, accountability, and what I call "micro-commitments" that gradually rewire your striatum, the habit engine. I've worked with hundreds of high-performers who crush their January goals through one counterintuitive shift: they stop trying to change everything and instead build one tiny behavioral anchor tied to an existing routine. A client wanted to exercise consistently but kept abandoning gym memberships by February. Instead, she committed to putting on workout clothes immediately after her morning coffee, nothing more. Within three weeks, the actual workout followed naturally because her brain had established a safe, predictable sequence. The striatum took over, and willpower became irrelevant. The real insight most people miss is that resolutions fail because we're competing against inertia, not weakness. Your basal ganglia naturally prefers the old pattern because it's efficient. New Year's motivation is real, but it's also temporary—it's the behavioral architecture underneath that determines whether February looks like January or feels like a crash.

I've carved out a niche in goal setting and breaking through limiting beliefs (my SLAY Sessions are all about that). Here are a few initial thoughts: Why is the "New Year" the time we make changes? Psychology and neuroscience show that people feel more motivated at "temporal landmarks" like the new year, birthdays, or Mondays. These moments mark a clean slate, separating "past me" from "future me." This is called the Fresh Start Effect (Dai & Li, 2019). There's also the dopamine factor: the brain rewards us with a hit of anticipation just from imagining a new possibility. Simply put, January 1 feels like more than another day — it's a line between the old self who didn't lose 10 pounds and the possible new self who can. Why do resolutions fail? SMART goals are a strong framework, but most resolutions fail by February 1 — not because of poor structure, but because of two human mistakes: 1. Believing January 1 makes us brand new people. We wake up thinking, "From now on, I will love cauliflower and hate cigarettes." But ignoring the past self is ignoring valuable evidence. Research on self-continuity (Hershfield, 2011) shows that integrating our past and future selves builds wiser choices. I encourage clients to set whole-person goals: goals aligned with who they are today and what they actually want. That means re-evaluating what worked, what didn't, and whether the goal is truly right. Instead of "lose 10 pounds" or "quit smoking," it might be: Find vegetables you enjoy. Switch to decaf before tackling nicotine. Or—brace yourself—accept the goal isn't for you and focus on others that light you up. This creates compassion, momentum, and often better results, because you're working with truth, not resistance. 2. Forgetting the joy of the journey. Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2000) shows we persist longer when our goals align with intrinsic motivation. That's why I ask clients to rate: J = Joy at achieving the goal. E = Excitement about the work required. A goal like "lose 10 pounds" may be high on Joy, but if every step feels miserable, Excitement is zero — and that's a recipe for quitting. The lasting goals are the ones where the process sparks curiosity or enjoyment. Maybe not "exercise," but dance. Not "dieting," but experimenting with new recipes. Here's the secret: your past self already knows what lights you up. When you prioritize joy and excitement, you fuel the journey — and that's what makes goals stick. Best of luck!

Hi! I am interested in answering your questions about why our brains crave resolutions and goals, specifically New Year's Resolutions and if you're interested maybe how society also contributes to this as well? I am a Family Med Doctor focusing on mental health who turned into all things mental health content and have a 10plus year history working in the mental health and addiction era. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you. Some of my initial thoughts are how our brain perceives deadlines vs resolutions. For example, deadlines are a sense of urgency and our brains associate this with stress and the fight or fight response, releasing cortisol. Resolutions are often seen as motivators because when we become motivated to do something, our dopamine reward cycle starts to go off in our brains...seeking pleasure from the rewarding effects of that resolution. Please feel free to reach out with any questions, if you are interested in speaking with me via email. Kristen.m.Fuller@gmail.com Dr. Kristen Fuller

Each year at the start of the year the brain seeks closure in regards to unfinished mental loops. The dopamine surge felt when completing an event or making progress toward a defined goal is a large part of why many individuals are energized by resolutions. The transition to a new year creates what the behavioral science community refers to as a temporal landmark—psychological reset point that aids in distinguishing "past self" from "future self." Temporal landmarks aid in creating an environment where past failures can be discarded and replaced with new beginnings that create measurable evidence of forward momentum and control. While motivation may initially provide the impetus for keeping a resolution, it ultimately does not. Structure provides the means for achieving success in maintaining a resolution. When writing down goals, using actions with consistent environments (same location, same trigger, same time), results in less mental overhead and creates automaticity in establishing consistency. Additionally, tracking behavior on a regular basis (weekly) and associating those behaviors with your personal identity, rather than a specific outcome will result in longer term commitment. As such, stating "I am someone who trains daily," has proven to have a greater ability to activate self-regulation than simply stating "I want to exercise."

Working with teens, I see how resolutions become another source of pressure when they're already stressed. We used to set big goals and fail. Now we break things down into tiny, almost silly steps. We might even high-five over finishing one small task. It sounds dumb, but it builds confidence. The goal becomes part of their weekly routine instead of this scary thing hanging over their head.

I'm a physiotherapist and Managing Director at EnableU, trusted provider of aged care, disability, and allied health support services. Our team helps older adults and people with disabilities achieve independence through personalised in-home care and therapy. I encourage our patients to set resolutions each year but instead of abstract goals, we focus on physical ones they can see and feel. For example, we might turn "get stronger" into "stand for 30 seconds longer each week." When progress is tangible, the brain stays engaged, and motivation lasts much longer. I'd be happy to discuss this in more detail. Please feel free to reach out to me via email: conrad.wang@enableu.com.au.

I'm Dr. Neelofer Basaria, DrPH, a Behavioral Scientist and National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach. I work at the intersection of mind, biology, and behavior, helping people understand how their brain and emotions shape lasting habits and lifestyle change. My initial thoughts on why the brain craves resolutions and goal setting at the start of a new year are to do with the "fresh start" effect of our brain. Research from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard explains this fresh start effect as basically, when the brain sees a moment in time like January 1st, a birthday, or even a Monday, it registers it as a clean slate. That triggers a hit of dopamine, our feel-good chemical that drives excitement and momentum... and that's the reason why at the start of something new, we feel fired up and motivated. But since this effect doesn't last for long, the key to making any goal stick is to actually learn how to keep the brain excited and interested. One smart way to do that is to pair novelty (the fresh start effect) with predictability (which provides routine, structure, and safety). We can further explore these concepts more in detail with solid examples with your follow-up questions. Looking forward to connecting with you!

I've spent 20+ years working with the body-mind connection as a licensed massage therapist, clinical esthetician, and Reiki practitioner--studying under a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor in Miami. What I've learned treating thousands of clients is that New Year goal-setting works because the body literally craves rhythm and renewal. Our nervous system responds to seasonal shifts and fresh starts the same way it responds to breath work or lymphatic drainage: it wants to release what's stagnant and reset. From a somatic perspective, goals fail when they're only mental. I've worked with women who set weight loss or business goals but carry unresolved trauma in their hips, jaw, or gut--places where stress gets stored. Their cortisol stays liftd, their sleep suffers (which I see clinically through inflammation and skin issues), and willpower alone can't override a dysregulated nervous system. The brain craves structure, but the body needs safety first. What actually works: pairing goals with embodied rituals. I teach clients to ground intentions through breath, movement, or even reflexology sessions that stimulate the parasympathetic system. One client couldn't stick to her business launch until we added daily 5-minute foot reflexology--it sounds simple, but activating those meridian points helped her stay calm and consistent. She launched three months later. The evidence-based piece is this: neuroplasticity requires repetition *and* a regulated nervous system. You can't rewire habits while living in fight-or-flight. That's why people who meditate, move their bodies, or work with somatic practices have better goal completion rates--they're not just thinking differently, they're literally changing their brain chemistry through the body.

I've supervised hundreds of social work interns across the country, and here's what I see every January: people set resolutions assuming their environment will cooperate, then get blindsided when it doesn't. The brain loves New Year goals because they create temporal landmarks--clean psychological breaks from past failures. But here's the problem: most people don't account for their actual daily context. At Kinder Mind, we treat clients dealing with everything from postpartum depression to career burnout, and the ones who stick to resolutions are those who build what I call "environmental checkpoints." One client kept failing at morning meditation until we mapped her actual routine: she had two kids under five. We shifted her goal to "10 conscious breaths while the coffee brews"--something her real life could absorb. She's maintained it for eight months because it fits her ecosystem, not some idealized version of it. The evidence-based piece everyone misses: implementation intentions. Research shows people who use "if-then" planning are 2-3x more likely to follow through. Instead of "I'll exercise more," it's "If it's 6pm on Tuesday, then I put on my shoes and walk for 10 minutes." Your brain needs concrete cues in your actual environment--doorways, alarm sounds, specific times. Vague goals require constant willpower; implementation intentions run on autopilot. I teach this to my University of Kentucky students: sustainable change happens when you design for your constraints, not against them. The brain craves resolutions because it's pattern-seeking, but patterns only stick when they're friction-free enough to repeat in your messiest, most realistic week.

I've spent three decades working in social services with populations facing mental health challenges, homelessness, and recovery--and here's what I've seen play out thousands of times: New Year goals fail because people set them in isolation. The brain doesn't just crave resolutions; it craves *witness* and *accountability structures*. That's why our housing retention hit 98.3% when we paired individual goals with structured check-ins and peer support systems. At LifeSTEPS, we work with formerly homeless individuals and vulnerable families across 36,000+ homes in California. The ones who succeed aren't the most motivated on day one--they're the ones embedded in what I call "micro-accountability loops." We had a veteran in our FSS program who tried quitting smoking solo for years. Once he joined a weekly group where three other vets were tracking their own goals (homeownership, sobriety, employment), he quit within two months. Nobody was even focused on his smoking--but showing up to report *something* every week rewired his follow-through. The evidence-based piece people miss: goals need external scaffolding until they become internal habit. Our data shows people are 4x more likely to maintain housing stability when they have scheduled touchpoints with a service coordinator versus "open door" support. Your brain needs repetition *plus* social consequence--even if that consequence is just disappointing someone who believes in you. Stop treating January 1st like magic. Treat it like the start of a 90-day accountability contract with one other human who'll text you every Wednesday at 9am. That's the difference between our 98% retention rate and the sector average of 85%.

I've been sober 13+ years after going through rehab myself, and what I've learned working with hundreds of people in recovery is that January goal-setting fails because we're trying to build new habits while our brain is still wired for the old ones. The brain doesn't actually crave resolutions--it craves **familiarity**. That's why 90% of people abandon goals by February. Here's what works from my counselling practice: micro-commitments paired with immediate rewards. I had a client who kept failing at "quit drinking" goals every January. Instead, we started with "I will not drink today" and she physically checked a box on her wall calendar each morning--not at night when willpower was gone. That dopamine hit from the checkmark became stronger than the craving within three weeks. The evidence-based piece everyone misses: your brain needs **proof of capability** before it believes change is possible. In my ACT therapy sessions, I make clients identify one thing they've already successfully changed in their life--switched jobs, moved cities, learned to cook. Then we map that exact process onto their new goal. A woman who couldn't stick to sobriety finally did when she realized she'd already quit a 15-year smoking habit using the same trigger-identification strategy. From my rehab experience, the people who maintained long-term change weren't the ones with perfect plans--they were the ones who accepted setbacks without quitting entirely. I teach clients to journal after every slip-up: "What triggered me? What will I do differently next time?" That reflection loop rewires the brain faster than willpower ever could.

I've spent 35 years doing marriage and discernment counseling in Lafayette, and here's what I see every January: people set relationship resolutions like "communicate better" but their brain is still running on the same conflict patterns from December 31st. The neuroscience is straightforward--your limbic system doesn't care about calendars, it cares about perceived threats, and unresolved marital conflict keeps triggering that same fight-or-flight response whether it's New Year's Day or July. What actually works is what I call "rupture-repair reps." I had a couple last year who fought every Sunday about church attendance. Instead of resolving to "stop fighting," we practiced a 60-second repair script they'd use immediately after any blowup--not to fix the issue, but just to re-establish safety. Their brains started associating conflict with reconnection instead of danger, and within six weeks the Sunday fights disappeared entirely because the neural pathway had been rewired. The fresh-start effect is real, but it only sticks when you're training your nervous system, not just your willpower. I tell clients to pick one micro-repair behavior they'll practice 3x weekly--like a physical touch during disagreement or naming their emotion out loud before criticizing. Your brain learns from repetition in real situations, not from intentions written on January 1st. Track the behavior, not the outcome, and your limbic system will eventually automate what used to require enormous effort.

I've spent 14 years treating addiction and trauma, and here's what I consistently observe: the brain craves New Year resolutions because they provide structured hope during a transition point--your nervous system is literally seeking order after holiday chaos. But resolutions fail when people ignore their trauma responses and attachment patterns that sabotage follow-through. In my practice using CBT and Narrative Therapy, I work with clients to identify their *avoidance narratives*--the stories they tell themselves about why change is dangerous. I had a client with co-dependency who set relationship boundaries every January but abandoned them by February. When we explored her childhood neglect trauma, she realized setting boundaries triggered a fear of abandonment that her brain interpreted as life-threatening. We restructured her goal from "enforce boundaries" to "notice when I feel the urge to people-please and pause for 30 seconds"--this gave her nervous system permission to exist without triggering survival mode. The evidence-based strategy nobody talks about: pair your resolution with a *somatic anchor*. Your body stores unprocessed emotions that will hijack your prefrontal cortex when you're stressed. I teach clients to attach their goal to a physical sensation--like taking three deep breaths before opening their planner or placing their hand on their chest when repeating an affirmation. This builds a body-based habit loop that your limbic system recognizes even when willpower fails. I've also noticed through 16 years of clinical work that resolutions stick when they address the *function* of the behavior you're trying to change, not just the behavior itself. If you're quitting substances, your brain isn't craving the drug--it's craving the relief the drug provided from unresolved anxiety or depression. Replace the function first with healthy coping skills, and the resolution becomes neurologically possible.