From eating well to looking at your phone less – a strategy expert reveals how to actually stick to the most popular New Year’s resolutions
We’re a few days into January, but for lots of people, those noble intentions we started 2026 with will already be slipping away.
Whether it’s deciding that actually you do need a mid-afternoon biscuit, or giving up on exercise before you’ve even started because of the freezing weather, New Year’s resolutions are often harder to stick to than you’d expect (hence why we keep making the same ones year after year).
It’s a pattern that Charlie Curson, a strategic advisor and leadership coach, sees all the time. ‘Every January, millions of us set the same resolutions. And yet by February, most have quietly fallen away. The problem isn’t motivation. It’s strategy,’ he says.
‘After 25 years coaching leaders and studying how behaviour really changes, I’ve seen the same truth play out time and again: lasting change comes from designing your environment, not relying on willpower.’
Charlie Curson is a strategic advisor, accredited leadership coach and the author of Be More Strategic: 12 Essential Practices for the Life and Career You Want.
Here’s how to make five of the most common resolutions finally stick.
1. Exercise more: make it frictionless, not heroic
Most people fail at exercise because they aim too high, too soon. The evidence is clear: consistency beats intensity every time. Instead of committing to the gym five times a week, focus on making movement unavoidable. Lay out your trainers the night before. Attach exercise to an existing habit (e.g. a walk after your morning coffee, stretches while the kettle boils etc).
Research shows that identity matters too: don’t say ‘I’m trying to exercise’, say ‘I’m someone who moves daily’.
And start embarrassingly small. Momentum follows action, not the other way around.
2. Eat more healthily: design your defaults
Healthy eating isn’t about self-control. It’s about what’s easiest in the moment. Studies consistently show we eat what’s most visible and convenient. So flip the script. Put fruit at eye level, keep chopped veg ready in the fridge, and make unhealthy snacks harder to reach (or not available at all).
Plan just one healthy meal you repeat during the week to remove decision fatigue.
Crucially, avoid the ‘all or nothing’ trap. One poor meal doesn’t ruin the week. Strategic thinkers zoom out: progress is built through patterns, not perfection. It’s also about intent.
3. Buy less stuff: pause before you purchase
Impulse buying is driven by emotion, not logic. The antidote is space.
Introduce a simple rule: wait 48 hours before buying non-essential items. This cooling-off period dramatically reduces unnecessary purchases.
Unsubscribe from marketing emails and remove saved card details. Friction is your friend.
Ask one strategic question before buying: ‘what problem is this really solving?’
Often, the answer isn’t practical but emotional. Once you spot the pattern, you regain control.
Reducing consumption isn’t about deprivation. It’s about intentional choice.
4. Cut down phone use: reclaim your attention
Our phones are engineered to hijack attention, so blaming yourself is pointless (and unfair).
The solution is structural. Turn off non-essential notifications, keep your phone out of reach during conversations, and charge it outside the bedroom. (Charge it next to the kettle!).
Even small changes reduce usage dramatically. Try ‘phone-free first and last 30 minutes’ of the day. Evidence shows this improves focus, mood and sleep.
Attention is one of your most valuable assets. Strategic people protect it fiercely, because what you pay attention to shapes how you think, feel and act.
5. Read more books: lower the bar
People don’t fail to read because they don’t like books. They fail because they aim unrealistically high. Forget reading an hour a day. Commit to five pages. That’s it.
Remove friction by always carrying a book or using an e-reader app.
Replace scrolling with reading during natural pauses e.g. whilst commuting, waiting, before bed. Research shows tiny daily habits compound quickly. One chapter a night becomes a book a month without effort. Reading isn’t about discipline; it’s about making the right choice the easiest one.
The real secret to sticking to resolutions?
Stop trying to become a ‘better’ version of yourself overnight. Instead, think strategically: design small, sustainable changes that work with human behaviour, not against it.
Change that sticks is rarely dramatic, but it is deliberate.
Charlie Curson is the author of Be More Strategic: 12 Essential Practices for the Life and Career You Want.
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