New Year's resolutions for the overcommitted

"Every January, millions of people set ambitious New Year's resolutions. They do this with genuine enthusiasm, hoping to transform their lives. Yet research indicates that by January 8th, just one week into the year, a quarter of these resolutions have already failed. By the end of the year, most individuals return to their familiar patterns, and the promises they made to themselves are often abandoned. My life doesn't permit me the luxury of being part of that statistic."

"I operate at the intersection of three distinct and demanding identities: a PhD scholar at Oxford researching outer space financing, the founder of a career advancement platform called Network Capital, and a father to a one-year-old. This combination creates a specific set of constraints. I do not have the luxury of surplus time, nor do I have the capacity for wasted effort."

"New Year's resolutions fail not because of a lack of intention or ambition. The problem is that behavioral change is tough when you are already maximizing your cognitive load. Standard resolutions set us up for failure by demanding too much, too fast, without a realistic road map for execution. Fortunately, there is a clearer path. By viewing personal change through the analytical lens of a founder and a researcher, I have shifted my focus away from resolutions entirely. Instead, I rely on operational protocols."

Millions create ambitious New Year's resolutions but many fail quickly and most people revert to old habits by year-end. Operating under multiple demanding roles imposes strict time and cognitive constraints that make large, motivation-dependent goals impractical. Willpower is a finite resource, and relying on fleeting motivation leads to failure when reserves are depleted. Scalable systems and marginal gains provide an alternative to heroic effort. Shifting focus from resolutions to operational protocols enables steady, incremental progress that fits within real-life constraints and reduces wasted effort while improving performance.

Read at Fast Company