It's that time of year again to make new year's resolutions to abandon a few weeks from now.

Why is the internet so cynical about new year's resolutions?

I think this has to do with how we approach goal setting. Here's my approach for the new year, and not start 2025 expecting to fail and be a Debbie Downer.

Themes, not Goals

I love Cortex's approach to yearly goal setting. Instead of creating a rigid list of items that ultimately cannot weather months of shifting priorities, we set themes.

A theme is a general push in a certain direction, a "North Star."

Instead of setting a goal to lose 10 pounds in the new year, you set a theme named "Year of Health."

Health is your north star, and guides your decisions through the year. That can be eating healthier, going to the gym, taking a walk during lunch break, etc.

The idea is you are sticking to your "Year of Health" by making small and consistent decisions towards your theme. You're not bound to failure when you lose 8 pounds instead of 10, because even that shouldn't be a failure when the success comes from better habits and not the number on the scale.

Give yourself a break

This is what happens with rigid goals; when we don't live up to them, we feel like a failure.

I find the most motivated people are the hardest on themselves. Stop it. Just because you haven't reached the end of the road doesn't mean the steps you've made are not valuable.

For fear of sounding new age woo-woo, when a goal is not met, that failure feels defeating and then demotivating. It trips up your momentum.

Isn't this just goals without accountability?

No. I'm suggesting the metric be something more important: momentum.

The gray hairs I've received in my time on Earth make me value momentum over numbers. Numbers are important, but they are a result, not the underlying current.

I feel momentum is the foundation for completing your goals. Building and protecting your momentum keeps you motivated, helps with speed bumps and pitfalls, and is far better mentally to judge one's journey down the path.

Yearly themes are a way to focus and direct that momentum. The two together help me obtain my goals in a much more useful way than isolated milestones out of context.

This year pick a theme, take the first step towards it, and try to consistently keep moving forward. New data will definitely cause you to rethink your short-term goals. That's okay. The point is to bring that in context with the rest of your theme.

Happy New Year, 2025.