Success Rate for Resolutions Abysmal - Can that be changed?
Only about 6% of people successfully follow through on their New Year's resolutions. A study found that while many set resolutions, only a small percentage manage to keep them throughout the year.
New Year's Eve is approaching fast, and while I'm not one to wait for a Monday, much less to start working toward a goal that's important to me, I thought I'd explore success rates for people who set New Year's resolutions, indubitably the most media-worthy discussion of goal-setting.
I found that Forbes conducted a study on resolutions in 2023 to find out just how effective people are in achieving the goals set at the new year.
This is what they found out of a survey of 1000 people, according to Bing's summary.
Could it be that the New Year's toast 🍾🥂 has something to do with this overconfidence?
The Forbes study found that 64% of the females felt pressured to set a New Year's Resolution, compared with 60% of the men. While that alone might seem like a reason not to follow this silly tradition, there's something deeper to be discovered. Pressure to set a goal is actually an indication of someone's motivational style. In this case, they are setting a goal due to an External focus, rather than an Internal focus.
It's no wonder their success rate is so low. But what of the other 40-some percent who set their goals intentionally, without external pressure? That's still roughly a 15% success rate.
Motivational Styles: a 360° Perspective for Increased Success
According to the LAB Profile ®, an NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) framework developed by Rodger Bailey, people are driven by their motivational styles.
A style is drawn from 6 different categories with a total of 12 factors, and with a smattering of buzz words encoded in a person's language around their goals. They don't, however, have just one style that works for all goals. Their drive or lack of drive for each goal is largely context dependent.
Setting SMART Goals has been touted as a framework for "defining clear and achievable goals," but to go beyond defining to actually achieving, motivation styles illuminate our individual drive factors. What moves us and what stops us.
These are the factors explored in a 360° Motivation Discovery Session with EDG Coaching.
Impulsive vs Contemplative
Avoidance vs Embrace
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic
Variety vs Certainty
Stability, Slow Change, Fast Change, and Stability with Some Change
+ Buzzwords
Understanding how each of the factors works as a function can illuminate not only why we fail to achieve our goals, why we succeed, but HOW WE CAN MAKE PROGRAM SUCCESS MORE OFTEN.
💡Success Tips:
~ Don't wait until New Year's to set goals. Use your motivational style ANYTIME!
~ Find out what motivates you to set them AND to achieve them.
~ Discover the motivational style that interferes when you don't achieve them.
~ Book your personal 360° Motivation Discovery Session today or attend one of my weekly Teleseminars, happening every Monday through December 16, 2025.
Life is larger at the EDG!
Michele Jennae
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