Why “New Year, New You” Isn’t the Answer—and What to Do Instead
Every year, as January rolls around, you’re bombarded with messages about starting fresh. “New Year, New You!” might sound exciting, but to be honest: it can also feel overwhelming, stressful, and even unattainable.
Here’s the thing—I don’t believe in “New Year, New You.” You’re already pretty great!
Instead, there’s a different way to approach the new year (or any time of year) that’s grounded in reflection, self-compassion, and realistic action and actually works.
The Problem With January Goal-Setting
January often comes with communal energy around goal-setting, and it’s easy to feel the pressure to overhaul every aspect of your life. I’ve been there. In January 2023, I made a massive vision board packed with goals for every area of my life—business, self-care, health, social, even goals for my dog, Georgia. It was exciting at first, but within two weeks, the energy fizzled out.
Why? Because trying to do everything all at once is overwhelming. For many of us, January is a low-energy month. It’s dark, cold, and dreary (at least where I live), and forcing yourself to “be productive” often feels like swimming against the current.
Why You Can Set Goals Any Time of Year
You don’t need to set goals on January 1st. Goal-setting can happen any time of year when it aligns with your energy and priorities. You can also set goals in a totally different way.
For example, May is when I naturally feel more energized—it’s a season of growth in both my personal and professional life. Setting goals in May feels exciting and manageable for me, and I find it much easier to follow through.
If January doesn’t work for you, that’s okay. Use it as a time for reflection or brainstorming instead. Take the pressure off and give yourself permission to adjust your timeline.
From Vision Board to Reality
It’s not always easy to take action on your goals. I wrote “podcast?” On my 2023 vision board but it took MONTHS before I took any action.
Here’s what changed that made podcast go from a vague idea to something I do every week:
I attended a virtual summit and saw a presentation about starting a podcast, which reignited my excitement.
I connected with a podcast editor, who helped me overcome my biggest barrier: tech overwhelm.
I joined a podcast coaching membership that provided guidance and emotional support when I felt stuck.
I talked with my copy writing coach about how to plan good episodes & write blog posts (like this one!)
With help, I took messy, imperfect action and launched my podcast months earlier than I expected. There’s no perfect time to start—just a “good enough” time.
3 Reflection Questions for Your Goal-Setting
Whether you’re planning goals in January or any other month, here are three questions to guide your process:
How do you want to grow in the next year?
What changes will help you make your life look the way you want it to?
How can you work on your goals in a way that excites you but avoids burnout?
These questions shift the focus from rigid outcomes to realistic, sustainable growth.
You Don’t Have to Do It All
If you’re looking at a long list of goals or feeling overwhelmed, let me remind you: you don’t have to do everything all at once. Prioritize what matters most to you right now and take small, meaningful steps toward those goals.
One of the most important lessons I share with my clients is to give yourself credit for your progress. It’s not just about reaching the finish line—it’s about celebrating each step along the way.
Get Support for Your Goals
If you’re ready to approach your goals differently this year, let’s explore executive function coaching.
Change takes time, and having support makes all the difference.
Let’s make this the year your goals truly work for you.
Curious about working with an Executive Function Coach?
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Sarah Lovell (00:00)
don't believe in New Year, new you. You're pretty great.
If you have goals that you're excited about though, let's talk about new year, new self-talk, new systems, new support in 2025 so that you can make your goals a reality through the whole year.
Whether you love or dread New Year's resolution season, this episode is for you. I'm here to remind you that you can set goals any time of year. It does not need to be January,
But since everyone is talking about it, I'll share my two cents on the topic too. Let's dive in.
Okay, so I know I just started off strong saying I don't believe in New Year, New You, which I do firmly believe. I have some trouble with that messaging, but I am not immune to the new year, new energy goal setting that happens. I am someone that...
Basically every January I do a little bit of reflecting. Sometimes I've set some pretty big goals, but I've also been that person that does it for two weeks and then the drop off happens. So I just wanna come out here and say that if you're setting goals in January, good for
January, also good for you. You do you in January.
But I wanna talk about how to set goals in a different way, how to think differently about goals because there is so much messaging this time of year. And it doesn't feel good when you set a goal and you aren't able to take action on it in a sustainable way or you find yourself feeling stuck or overwhelmed. So I wanna start with that.
But let me time travel, let me tell you a story of my goal setting back in January, 2023. So I created a vision board for my goals that year. I wanted to create a visual reminder for myself and I still have it actually. And I put literally all of my life categories onto that.
vision board. Like it was all just handwritten. It was not artsy. But I had business goals, self care, personal health, social, travel, goals I had for my dog, Georgia, like the training I was doing with her. Right? So there were so many goals. Like to see it visually was overwhelming. But at the time of writing it, I was like,
energized and excited. And I was like, I'm going to work on so many things this year. And like I said, that lasted, that energy lasted for like about two weeks and then the magic wore off and it became a thing that was like a visual reminder, but it was like in the back, the backdrop of my office. At a certain point, I put it in a drawer.
It wasn't the visual that in my head I thought it was going to be. Like thought it was going to be this super energizing. I see it every day and I'm like, how am I working on my goals today? But basically it felt very overwhelming. Like, how will I do all of this? When will I do it? What if I don't get to it all? And then kind of like, my gosh, that awful feeling of what if I don't reach my goals, right?and then the discomfort of starting the goals, that's a whole nother episode topic. I will talk about discomfort. it's something I talk about all the time with clients. but basically I kind of bought into that, like new year, new me, I'm going to overhaul all of these categories in my life. and that is not what happened in 2023. I did work on some of those different categories.
But January is to me kind of a weird time to set goals. Part of that hype is because there's a lot of marketing and communal energy that kind of like fear of missing out. Like, if other people are doing it, I wanna do it too. But where I live, January is dark. lot of it, like it's dark when I wake up. It's dark at the end of the workday. It's cold.
It's gray, it's a little dreary. I am more tired in January. I have like my seasonal like lamp, right? That I like have, I have it on right now. So January is like a lower energy month for me, but like trying to get hyped on goals because everybody else is getting hyped on goals doesn't work for me. And so if it doesn't work for you, I want to let you know that that is okay.
you can still set goals, but do it in a different way, or you can still set goals, but it doesn't need to be January 1st. And so I still set goals in January. I do it very differently now. I give myself lots of permission to treat it as more of a reflection time and a brainstorming time, like a dreaming time. And then I can takein other seasons of my life. Or I now do a weekly reflection workshop in my coaching membership, Stuck to Started. And that has changed the game on how I set goals and how I reflect because I'm no longer doing it once a year. I have always wanted to be somebody that journals and reflects and tracks goals.
But if you've listened to my other podcast episodes, if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I am a recovering perfectionist. And so that created a lot of stress for me, like the perfect way to reflect, the perfect way to track goals, the perfect time to do it.
So I literally scheduled a monthly reflection workshop in Stuck2Started because I needed to carve out the time for myself. Like I needed to be able to protect that time because anytime I was like, I'm going to be somebody who does this. I'm somebody who reflects. I'm somebody who tracks goals. I'm somebody who gives myself credit for progress, right? There was always something else that was more pressing or a higher priority.
And so I just kept putting off this idea of like, want to do this every month. And so by scheduling it into my membership and offering it to my members, I secretly did it for myself. This is something that I wanted to do. So I put it in my membership and I do it alongside my community. And it is amazing because I'm no longer trying to set
a giant goal at the beginning of the year and then have no system for checking in, right? Or I don't have to set a goal in January. One of my goals I set was in May of this year. Like there was no hype around goal setting in the world, right? But May is a time of year that I am coming out of winter hibernation. I have more energy. It's an energizing time.
in my business and it's an energizing time in my personal life. And so it felt better for me to set goals that time of year. So if you're somebody who's like, on the fence about setting goals in January, I just want you to know there is no pressure to set goals in January. You can set goals any time of the year and having some support and systems can be helpful with that.
so I just went down a little little side journey there talking about my workshops and the reflections that I offer. But I want to take us back to January of 2023 when I wrote this massive life goal plan on on a giant sheet of paper. One of the goals that I wrote in January of 2023 was podcast question mark.
Like it was just this thing that I was pondering at the time. And obviously I did eventually start a podcast. You are currently listening to that podcast. But in 2023, I did not take any action on that. I barely thought about it. I had so many other things happening.
For most people, I don't think trying to create a plan for a full year is a good fit. And if you haven't already listened to my last episode where I talk about setting identity-based goals, which is a totally different way to think about goal setting, I highly recommend going back and listening to that episode because even the way that we think about goals and talk about goals.
there's different ways that we can approach it that feel better, at least for me. If it doesn't fit for you, that's okay too. As always, I haven't said this in a while on my episodes, take what I'm sharing and take what's helpful, adjust it to fit for you. And if something isn't the right fit or doesn't connect with you, it's okay to just leave that behind. There is no one size fits all approach to anything.
Coming back to my podcast goal and story, obviously podcasting stayed on my radar, but it was truly a random series of events that led me to take action on this goal. So I had attended a virtual summit for business owners and there was a podcast coach who had a presentation in there about how to start a podcast and the benefits of podcasting.
And that was just kind of like this spark of energy. I was like, yes, this has been on my radar. Like it's been something I've been thinking about, but I don't have a plan. I don't have any sort of direction on this. I just have some like excitement and this presentation really kind of set me in motion out of nowhere. Like I just happened across.
this presentation and I was like, my goodness, renewed energy on the podcast. And so then I started thinking about what my barriers were to starting a podcast and technology is not my favorite. And so I already had in my head that there would be so much tech work that I would have to do figuring out where to record, figuring out how to edit, how do you upload?
And like that to me is not something that I wanted to put time or energy into. and so it was always on my radar that that would be something that I would outsource or ask for help on. And so I happened to cross paths with a virtual assistant who edited a colleague's podcast that I had listened to. And so I scheduled a meeting with Chelsea, shout out to Chelsea, who does all of my editing and tech support. And we met.
on Zoom in August of 2024 this year to talk about how she could support me and what that might look like. And at the time of that meeting, I had in my head that I would want to start my podcast or maybe launch it in like January of 2025. And Chelsea started asking me some questions on the timeline and my thought process and what my goals were for the podcast.
And she basically pushed me on the timeline, which I definitely needed. And I realized with her support that I would be able to start recording episodes in September and that it could launch in October. And that's exactly what happened. having a podcast launch in 2024 was not on my bingo card, as the kids would say. Like this was not.
this was not a goal I had been thinking about this year, right? It just, it was something that I had been excited about. I had thought about it back in 2023. Other projects took priority and energy and time. And then it just happened that this could come to fruition because of a series of events, right? That I was able to take action on it. So,
Here's what made this podcast a reality. So first I adjusted my self-talk on it. You're like, Sarah, you're always talking about self-talk. Yes, self-talk is the foundation of everything we do and it impacts our ability to take action. So I challenged my idea that there would be a quote unquote perfect time to start this podcast. In my head,
January of 2025, like, ooh, January, new year, new podcast, right?
So that was definitely me checking in on this idea that like, there is no such thing as a perfect time. Can I make this a good enough time to take action on it? And so, like I said, I identified what my biggest barriers were going to be was the tech. And so I got support from Chelsea. And then I found myself Googling to...
try to figure out other strategies for getting started on the podcast. Like literally even the idea of sitting down to press record was terrifying. If you listened to my first episode, you hear me in real time talking about how scared I was to press record. And so I ended up joining the coaching membership of the original training that I had heard about. So shout out to Caroline who I'm in her podcast membership.
And I was able to ask her questions in real time as I was struggling to get started on my podcast. And so she was able to provide support. I didn't have to Google things anymore. Like she gave some good, like emotional support too, right? Like that's what coaches are for. And so with that, with all of that support, I was able to take messy imperfect action.
And I also had systems and a plan that would make releasing episodes each week a reality. So obviously that is one of my strengths and what I help people with. But I really sat down and thought through the time, energy, resources that would be required for me to record episodes and to be able to continue to release them every single week. like,
I executive function coached myself to be able to make sure that this would be sustainable for me to do this.
And I am so, so, so, so excited now that I have this platform and this new way to connect with people. Because this is exactly what I help clients with. So clients come to me with really big goals.
So when people reach out to work with me one-on-one, there's an application process and I am going to share some of the goals that people have written as part of their application.
How do I create a weekly schedule that makes sure work, exercise, cooking, and monthly tasks and goals are met with ease? How do I start a project without procrastinating for hours, days, and sometimes weeks or months? How do I prioritize when everything feels important? How do I deal with distractions that take me off track but feel super compelling?
How do I play a bigger role in my business without messing it up with silly mistakes? How do I use my free time for hobbies and things that I'm actually excited about instead of doom scrolling because I'm so mentally fried at the end of the day and exhausted by the weekend?
This one really sticks out to me. How do I set goals that really matter to me and see them through? So when clients reach out, they have lots of really big goals. And I love helping people take their big goals and make them realistic. And usually the first way that
that starts is by me bursting a bubble a little bit. So I tell people, you do not have to do all of this at once. And I tell them that it's actually impossible to do everything that you're trying to do to make all the changes that you're trying to make to spend all the time and energy on the things on everything that you've written down.
it's actually impossible to do all of that at once. And that is heartbreaking to some people. And we work through that. And for some people, it gives them a sense of relief, like that you can't, it's physically impossible. You only have so many hours in the day. You only have so much energy.
And you get to prioritize, create plans, and make changes based on what your reality looks like.
So thinking back to my 2023 vision board with all of my goals and all of the categories, like I know what that feels like to be like, but I have so much I want to do and all of this is important and all of this is exciting and a lot of it is actually stressful. So how do I do it? How do I do it all? That is literally one of the most common questions I get is how do I do everything?
And if you're a perfectionist, how do I do everything and how do I do it all well? So I will just reiterate that the goal isn't to do everything all at once. I want you to take pressure off of your goals.
I'm gonna repeat that for you because I think it's really important. Your goal is not to do everything all at once. You have permission to take pressure off of your goals. And I want you to know like having lots of goals is valid. You can have a giant vision board with lots of ideas and lots of things that you want to focus on. Because you do, you have lots of good ideas. You have lots of things that are important to you that you value.
And it can be really hard to pump the brakes or it can be really hard to say, which one is most important to me right now or which one is going to make the most impact for me right now. And so part of that process is making a plan first and then taking action, right? Like that you can't do everything all at once. My podcast randomly starting four months before I thought it was going to.
is kind of an example of that. Like was on my radar. I kind of had an idea, but then I had a pseudo plan. But then the universe, right? If you're like energy person, the universe had a different plan for me. I came across these resources and I adjusted my goals. I adjusted where I was putting my time and energy. And I'm so glad I let myself do that.
I think sometimes we can be really rigid with how we set goals, that they need to look a certain way, we need to hit certain milestones or metrics at a certain point. And that creates a lot of unnecessary pressure. I'm not saying don't set metric goals. If those work for you, good, keep going with them.
But I think it's really important that you're giving yourself credit each step of the way and not just when you hit a metric.
So I'm a broken record on that self-talk piece and giving yourself credit, but that is also a super important part of setting goals and taking action on goals. You need to give yourself more credit. And that's something that I'm constantly asking clients about every single week. What did you do this week that you can give yourself credit for? And sometimes it's not doing things that we get to give ourselves credit for. Like, I realized...
I was so exhausted this week that instead of trying to force myself to get through my to-do list, I prioritized and I just put time and energy into the things that were really going to make an impact for me. And that's okay, right? That you can adjust your plan to fit your reality.
a client in a recent coaching session said, I felt like I wasn't doing enough. And then I looked at what I was doing and realized I'm doing more than I thought. I was like, yes, that is the goal. cause that initial self-talk is I'm not, I'm not getting enough done, right? Like that toxic productivity that we are constantly being reminded of in the media.
in marketing, in messaging that we receive, like do more, do it faster, do it better. And so like even being able to challenge that for yourself, like that initial thought of you're not doing enough, be like, okay, but what am I doing? And then to look back, to reflect back and say, I'm doing more than I thought, or I'm doing enough.
I'm doing enough. That can be it.
Another way that you can make sustainable and realistic changes and action towards your goal is to identify where you're getting stuck, why are you getting stuck, and then have the right systems or support for that. So you can listen to podcast episodes like this one. You can hire experts.
You can find other people who are working on similar goals and surround yourself with supportive community.
So I wanna wrap up this episode with a couple of reflection questions for you. And you can save these questions for May of 2025, right? That's a time, a random, pick a random month or a time when you wanna do some reflecting.
Here are some questions that you can reflect on. How do you want to grow in the next year? How can you make your life look the way you want it to look? How can you work on your goals in a way that's exciting, but in a way that you're not going to burn out?
So these are conversations that we have all year long in my coaching membership, Stuck to Started, because change takes time. More than half of my members have been in the membership for a full year, which makes my heart so full.
It has been absolutely wonderful getting to know the amazing people in my community. And they have built sustainable systems. They're taking ongoing action towards their goals. They're navigating challenges with support and they're creating real change in their lives. And I want that for you too. So whether it's joining the Stuck to Start It community,
or saving this podcast and revisiting it in the future, I want you to know that I am here for you. I'm here to support your goals. So if you're ready to get things done in a way that feels good, visit the link in the show notes to join Stuck2Started, but don't wait too long. The price of the membership is going to be going up on January 1st, 2025.
I'll wrap this up by saying this is more than just setting intentions. It's about creating a roadmap and toolbox that is tailored to you. Hope to see you in Stuck to Started.
