New Year's Resolutions 2027: 40 Ideas and How to Actually Keep Them

What are good New Year's resolutions for 2027?

Good resolutions for 2027 are specific actions you can check every week: walk 30 minutes a day, cook dinner at home five nights, move $200 to savings each payday, read 20 pages before bed. Health, weight and eating were the most common resolutions in a large 2020 study. Pick one that would change the most.

The 40 ideas below are grouped by area. Each is already written as an action, which is the single change most resolutions need.

Do New Year's resolutions actually work?

Yes, more often than their reputation suggests. A six-month study found 46% of resolvers were still succeeding, compared with 4% of people who wanted the same change without making a resolution. A larger 2020 study found 55% of participants considered themselves successful after a full year. Making the resolution helps; the method decides how much.

The first figure comes from Norcross, Mrykalo and Blagys (2002), who followed 159 resolvers and 123 non-resolvers. Success fell from 71% at two weeks to 46% at six months, so the early weeks are where most resolutions are lost. The second is from Oscarsson and colleagues (2020), who followed 1,066 people in Sweden for a year.

40 New Year's resolution ideas for 2027

Each idea is written as something you start, with a number you can check. Change the numbers to fit your life.

Health and fitness

1. Walk 8,000 steps a day, five days a week.
2. Strength train twice a week for 30 minutes.
3. Run a 5K by the end of March, then a 10K by October.
4. Drink a full glass of water before your first coffee.
5. Lights out by 10:30 p.m. on weeknights.
6. Stretch for 10 minutes after every workout.
7. Book the doctor and dentist visits you have been putting off by January 31.
8. Try a structured challenge, such as a 30-day discipline challenge.

Eating

9. Cook dinner at home five nights a week.
10. Eat a portion of protein at every meal.
11. Bring lunch to work three days a week.
12. Eat one serving of vegetables at lunch and dinner.
13. Plan the week's meals every Sunday.

Money

14. Move $200 into savings every payday, automatically.
15. Log every purchase for the first 30 days.
16. Pay off one card, smallest balance first, by June.
17. Wait 48 hours before any non-essential purchase over $50.
18. Cancel one unused subscription a month until none are left.

Career and skills

19. Do one 90-minute focus block every workday morning.
20. Write tomorrow's five critical tasks before you finish work.
21. Practice a skill for 20 minutes a day.
22. Finish one course or certification by June 30.
23. Ask for feedback from your manager once a month.

Mind and habits

24. Read 20 pages a day (about 24 books a year).
25. Journal for five minutes each night.
26. Keep your phone out of the bedroom.
27. No social media before noon, replaced by a walk or reading.
28. Spend 10 minutes in quiet, with no input, each morning.
29. Track three daily non-negotiables using the builder.

Relationships

30. Call one family member every Sunday.
31. Plan a phone-free dinner three nights a week.
32. Schedule a date night twice a month.
33. Reach out to one old friend a week.
34. Say yes to one invitation a month you would usually skip.

Home and life admin

35. Declutter one room a month.
36. Make the bed every morning.
37. Do a 15-minute reset of the kitchen every night.
38. Write a will or update your beneficiaries by March.

Bigger changes

39. Run a 90-day plan for the first quarter, then pick the next.
40. Choose one area of life to rebuild and follow our guide on how to change your life.

What are the most common New Year's resolutions?

In the 2020 study of 1,066 resolutions, the most common were physical health (33%), weight loss (20%) and eating habits (13%). Together, health-related resolutions made up about two thirds of all goals. Common resolutions are fine; the wording is what matters.

Popular resolutions are popular because they matter. The problem is that "get healthy" is the same sentence in January and December. "Walk 8,000 steps a day, five days a week" can be checked tonight.

How do you keep a New Year's resolution?

Write it as an action you will start rather than something you will stop, track it weekly, plan exactly when and where you will do it, and tell one person who will check in. In the 2020 study, approach goals succeeded more often, and the group with a named support person did best.

Four rules, each with evidence behind it:

• Start, don't stop. Approach-oriented resolutions ("start running") had a 58.9% success rate versus 47.1% for avoidance-oriented ones ("stop snacking").
• Plan the when and where. "If it is 7 a.m. on a weekday, I walk before breakfast." A meta-analysis of 94 studies by Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006) found these if-then plans reliably improved goal attainment.
• Track progress. A meta-analysis by Harkin and colleagues (2016) found that monitoring progress improved the chances of reaching a goal, especially when it was recorded or shared.
• Get a check-in. The group that named a support person and got monthly follow-ups reported 62.3% success, compared with 55.9% for those who received no support.

The 2027 goal planner builds all four into a one-page plan.

When do most people give up on resolutions?

Most drop-off happens in the first weeks. In the 2002 study, the share of people still succeeding fell from 71% at one to two weeks to 46% at six months. Strava's activity data put "Quitter's Day", when motivation sags, in the second or third week of January. Plan for that week before it arrives.

Our Quitter's Day guide covers what to do in that week specifically.

Frequently asked questions