New Year resolution ideas that start small, each with a first step

How to pick a resolution you’ll still do in February

The best pick is the one you’d be glad to have done by March.

Then it gets cut down to a first step for January 1, something you can do even after a late night with too much cake.

If a whole year feels too big to hold, 30 day challenge ideas use the same sizes for one month.

Two filters help with the choosing:

• One resolution for now. January has enough going on.
• A step you can do at home, with things you already own.

Then comes the wording. “Stop scrolling in bed” gives you nothing to do. “Phone on the kitchen charger at 10 pm” does.

Write the resolution as something you’ll start.

Does the wording really matter? There’s one large study on it.

In a 2020 experiment on New Year’s resolutions (opens in a new tab), people with “start” goals were more likely to call their year a success than people with “stop” goals: 58.9% of the “start” group did.

Ten New Year resolution ideas, made small

Every resolution needs two sizes. One for an ordinary day, and a busy-day step for the day that runs over.

The right-hand column does most of the work. Picture a Thursday in January when you get home late and eat toast standing at the counter with your coat still on.

Two pages still fit that evening.

Decide the busy-day step before you need it.

So it’s worth deciding both sizes now, while you still feel reasonable. On the late evening there’s nothing to work out. You just do the small one.

Small resolutions for moving, eating and money

Each idea below is the resolution, then its January 1 step. Busy-day sizes are in brackets where they help.

Move more

• Walk more: a 20-minute walk on January 1 (busy day: 5 minutes).
• Stretch in the morning: 10 minutes on the floor (busy day: 2).
• Start running: run for 10 minutes, three times this week.
• Take the stairs: one flight a day, in any building.
• Work out at home: 5 minutes of whatever you remember from school sports.
• Go outside more: 20 minutes in daylight (busy day: 5 minutes at the door).

Eat and drink

These are about what you do in the kitchen. None of them promises a result.

• Cook at home: one simple dinner this week (busy day: a snack you made yourself).
• Drink more water: count glasses today, aiming for 8 (busy day: 4).
• Eat more fruit and veg: add one piece of fruit to breakfast.
• Less sugar: swap one sweet thing a day for something else you like.
• Pack a lunch: make Monday’s lunch on Sunday night.

Money, in small amounts

Small amounts in US dollars. These are habits, not financial advice.

• Save money: put $10 aside this week (busy day: $1).
• Save for a trip: start a trip jar with $1 and write the place on the lid.
• Have no-spend days: one day this week with nothing bought you didn’t need.
• Check subscriptions: read one statement and circle anything you’d forgotten.
• Track spending: write down every purchase for three days, then decide.
• Cook before you order: open the fridge before you open a delivery app.

That’s 17 ideas, and every one is a resolution with a step attached. We built an iPhone app around that shape, so we’re biased. A sticky note works just as well.

In Yumemira, the small-steps journal for iPhone, you pick one goal from 26 ready ones, or make your own. Each day shows a step for today and a smaller one for a busy day.

1. 1

   Do the small thing.

   Ten pages, or $1 in the jar.

2. 2

   Mark done.

   Mira, the app’s star, cheers “Nice. That counts.”

3. 3

   Say how it went.

   One question opens, and you write a line while it’s fresh.

And it’s hard to have nothing to say about something you did ten minutes ago.

And the free version holds one goal at a time, which suits a January that’s trying one thing.

On paper, it works the same way: the step at the top of the page, and a line under it once it’s done.

Resolution ideas for people, learning, rest and home

These ones get less confetti. Nobody throws a party for a tidy drawer, or for a guitar that finally came out of its case on a wet Sunday afternoon.

People

• Call family more: send one hello on January 1 (busy day: a short hello).
• Call one friend a week: put the call next to something weekly, like laundry.
• Write a thank-you note: to whoever helped you most last year.
• Remember birthdays: add the next three to your phone’s calendar today.
• Share one meal a week with the phones in another room.
• Say yes more: accept the next invite you’d usually skip.

Learn and make

• Read more: 10 pages tonight (busy day: 2 pages).
• Learn a language: 10 minutes of practice (busy day: 2 minutes).
• Play an instrument: take it out of its case and play for 15 minutes (busy day: 5).
• Draw something: 15 minutes with a pencil, even if the subject is your coffee cup.
• Write more: 15 minutes on anything (busy day: 5 minutes).
• Learn one skill: watch one short tutorial and try its first step the same day.

Calm and rest

No promises about how these feel. They’re just things to do.

• Be in bed on time: set a wind-down alarm 15 minutes before bedtime.
• Take breathers: one slow breathing break halfway through your day.
• Meditate: 5 minutes with a timer (busy day: 2).
• Less phone time: phone in another room for 30 minutes (busy day: 10).
• Gratitude: write down three good things tonight (busy day: one).
• Wake up earlier: get up when the alarm first rings, once this week.

Home

• Tidy up: 10 minutes with a timer (busy day: 2 minutes).
• Clear one drawer: the one with old batteries and a cable nobody can identify.
• Make the bed: every morning, before you leave the room.
• Water the plants: move them somewhere you’ll see them.
• Fix one small thing: the loose button, or the chair leg that wobbles.

More than half of these 40 match one of the 26 goals in the app, with a starting size already set. The rest fit Make your own.

Choose the idea you could do on a tired evening.

Turn “stop” resolutions into “start” ones

A “stop” resolution gives you nothing to do on January 1. You can’t tick off a biscuit you didn’t eat.

So each one gets swapped for a small thing you’ll start, ideally one that leaves less room for the old habit.

The new version is something you can picture yourself doing, on a real evening, in the clothes you’re wearing right now. And on January 1, you can actually do it.

What to do on January 15th

Say it’s January 15th. Work ran late.

The bus never came, and the shoes you bought for walking are still by the door with the tags on.

That’s what the busy-day step is for. Five minutes or two pages, then stop.

On a long day, do the busy-day step and stop.

The resolution didn’t fail on the 15th. The day was just bigger than the step.

For a line about each day, try a few new year journal prompts. For more ideas this size, see small goals you can start today and how to set goals that fit a real week.

Tonight, before any confetti, open your phone’s notes and type two lines: the resolution, and its January 1 step.

Then the January 2nd coffee only has to read it.