The trick to making New Year's resolutions stick - Post Reports Recap

Podcast: Post Reports

Published: 2026-01-08

Duration: 19 min

Guests: Maggie Penman

Summary

New Year's resolutions can be more successful by reframing goals to be enjoyable and achievable, using social accountability, and employing strategies like temptation bundling.

What Happened

Martine Powers and Maggie Penman discuss the common challenges people face with New Year's resolutions, emphasizing that while many resolutions fail, the act of setting them is beneficial. They mention the concept of 'Quitter's Day,' the second Friday in January, when many people abandon their resolutions. The conversation highlights the importance of setting enjoyable goals rather than purely aspirational ones, such as framing goals in a positive light, like 'eat more fruit,' instead of 'stop eating cookies.'

Maggie introduces the idea of aligning goals with personal enjoyment, suggesting that forcing oneself into activities like running can be counterproductive if it's not enjoyable. Instead, she advocates for finding activities that naturally fit into one's life, like dancing if one enjoys it more.

The episode discusses the 'buddy system' as an effective strategy for achieving goals, supported by research from Cynthia Kreider, which shows that people are more likely to stick to commitments when they involve social accountability. This method increases frequency of gym visits by 35% when participants attended with a friend.

Temptation bundling, a concept introduced by Katie Milkman, is explored as a way to pair less desirable tasks with enjoyable activities, such as listening to a favorite audiobook only while exercising, to increase motivation.

Maggie also suggests using the New Year as an opportunity to accomplish necessary but unappealing tasks, like scheduling medical check-ups, to take advantage of the motivational boost that comes with the new year.

Martine and Maggie workshop personal goals, discussing reframing strategies for better success. For example, Martine's goal to go to bed earlier is reframed as creating a pleasant bedtime routine. Maggie shares her resolution to volunteer more regularly and plans to use social accountability by joining a friend.

The episode concludes with Martine offering to be Maggie's accountability partner, demonstrating the social support aspect of goal achievement.

Key Insights