If you ask us, there’s way too much focus these days on ‘the perfect health plan’ — particularly leading into the fitness frenzy that is the new year. Now, don’t get us wrong, good health is a great goal. But how you get there can be a bit more complicated than the marketing moguls would have you believe.
And as you may know, we’re not really big fans of New Year’s resolutions around here. Not because we don’t want you to be your best self, but because New Year’s promises and proclamations usually fall flat by February, leaving us guilt-ridden and feeling gluttonous.
We thought: there’s got to be a better way to push ourselves to change. How can we side-step this annual angst, and set goals that stick?
Well, this season — instead of wringing our hands about the best New Year’s resolutions, or whether all the holiday ham haunches will set our diet back — let’s take a step back and talk about redemption.
And thankfully, Dr. Neal is leading the charge toward a redemption-focused approach with his New Year’s vision strategy. Read on to learn the difference between resolution and redemption, how to create sustainable change, and how to craft a plan for actually accomplishing your goals in 2025.
A quick disclaimer: Of course, we’re not against people setting goals, pushing to new heights, or continuing to evolve. That stuff is great! The reality is, though, that our modern framework for creating change just doesn’t work as advertised.
That’s why your gym is empty by Valentine’s Day and why your ideal beach body hasn’t magically arrived by June. Not only does the New Year’s resolution approach leave a lot to be desired, but it goes against human nature in ways that can actually be damaging. How? Well, keep reading to find out!
Learn More: Neal’s 5 Tips For Thriv-ival in 2025
Evolutionarily, the human brain just doesn’t prioritize big-picture or long-term thinking that well. Why? Well, early in our development as a species it was the quick, moment-to-moment decisions that kept us alive — and so our brains became really good at them.
When a decision, change, or development is positioned far in the future and requires consistent effort without instant results, it’s much more challenging. It doesn’t work for our brains because our brains simply don’t work like that. So no, you’re not lazy or lacking ambition — it’s biological! That takes a bit of the pressure off, right?
In the wellness industry, every season has a sales schtick: spring for allergies, summer for skincare, and fall for cough and cold treatments. And New Year’s sales and services aren’t immune to this — despite the fact that we could just as easily begin our lives anew today as we could on January 1st!
But that wouldn’t be very helpful for companies seeking a profit boost headed into Q1, would it?
This kind of fabricated urgency just doesn’t lend itself well to long-standing change. After your credit card has been swiped, the buzz dwindles — because external motivation like this is as short-lived as our own fickle whims.
Modern marketing tactics use every psychological trick in the book to influence millions of people for one simple goal: profit.
Even intelligent and discerning people can fall for marketing schemes when they leverage the deeply entrenched patterns of our fallible and fragile human brains. Because even if you know, logically, that major goals take time to accomplish, the emotional part of the brain still says, “Yeah, but I want it right now.”
That’s why, every year, millions of dollars are made on weight loss pills, detox programs, supplements, fitness courses, et cetera — promising those instant results our lizard brains just can’t resist.
Learn More: 4 Mental Health Myths Debunked: Understanding the American Mental Health Crisis
Okay, so we’ve gone over all the reasons why resolutions don’t work — and while it may seem disheartening, just wait! There is another option: redemption.
When we say redemption, we mean a lot of different things. We mean to show yourself patience when you don’t make progress as fast as you think you should. We mean to forgive yourself when you fall off the wagon, even if it happens again and again. And we mean that it’s never too late to start trying or to decide to keep trying.
All that to say, it’s about patience and forgiveness — for yourself. It may seem like a subtle difference, but you’d be surprised at how much a simple attitude change can affect the way your life unfolds.
So, with that in mind, let’s dive into some concrete steps you can take toward meaningful change — and don’t forget, it’s never too late!
When we set our goals based on (oh so fleeting) external motivations, we’re setting ourselves up to fail. Then, as we struggle to stick to our new habits and hobbies, it’s easy to label ourselves as just that: failures.
And no matter how confident you may be, it’s hard to stay chipper when you’re mentally cycling through all the reasons you feel like a loser!
That’s why Dr. Neal‘s psychology-backed plan for creating a New Year’s vision is such a relief. Rather than prioritizing outcomes or getting attached to expectations, a New Year’s vision allows us to work towards bettering ourselves slowly and sustainably. But it does require a mindset shift — because at least for most of us, it’s a bit contradictory to our current paradigm.
Keeping these 3 things in mind while you create your perfectly personalized New Year’s vision will help you focus on what gets results, and let go of what doesn’t:
If you want to succeed, you need to find what really, truly, genuinely moves you. For example, if you want to drop some extra pounds in 2025, “because I want abs” probably isn’t quite powerful enough to get you through months of hard work with difficult-to-see results.
“I want to live long enough to meet my grandchildren,” on the other hand, is exactly the sort of deep-rooted, galvanizing truth that can motivate real, lasting change.
What’s the hardest part of working towards goals or building new behaviors? At first, you’re going to have to give maximum effort for minimum return. And with no dopamine-boosting lights, sounds, or prizes to reward you for the small accomplishments, it’s all the more difficult.
But here’s the good news: if you stick with it, you will eventually reach a point in the learning curve where you’re putting in less effort and seeing more results. And, if you go into this whole process expecting hard work, you won’t be as surprised when it gets challenging.
Sometimes, too, our New Year’s resolutions get left by the wayside not because we’re unmotivated or complacent, but because we simply forgot about them!
In our hectic world, it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of everything — even the good stuff. And especially stuff like making small, incremental improvements! That’s a big part of why long-term change is so difficult — day to day, it often feels like we’re making no progress at all.
So, keep a journal, make a note on your phone, write long missives with rocks on the beach — anything! If you’re able to review your days, weeks, or months, and actually write down the positive steps you’ve taken, it’ll be much easier to see how far you’ve come.
Okay, so it might not be plausible to sit down and say: “tomorrow I’ll be a completely different person.” But that doesn’t mean we can’t accomplish our goals. We just need to get into the nitty-gritty of creating a New Year’s vision that works for you, specifically!
Following Dr. Neal’s advice, we’re going to ask ourselves two simple questions to lay the foundation for all our hard work:
Yes, we know — we made it very clear that our brains don’t like establishing long-term goals. But by defining 5 specific actions we need to take daily, weekly, or monthly to reach our vision — we effectively reduce that long-term goal into 5 short-term ones.
And if we want to work with your brain instead of against it, these 5 actions should be both measurable and tangible. They should also be objective — or as objective as we can get — so you can say without a shred of doubt, “If I do these 5 things, I will have reached my vision.”
The best way to set yourself up for success with these objectives is, like we said above, getting to the heart of your goal, establishing realistic expectations, and tracking your progress.
Let’s put all of this information together into a concrete example, using one of the most frequently heard New Year’s Resolutions — losing weight.
Utilizing the psychology-backed framework for redemption above, that would look something like this:
And here’s one final pro tip that you might not have been aware of — you don’t have to do this alone! Our Counterside Consults, believe it or not, are always free — so you can give our team of holistic health experts a call anytime you need personalized advice for this journey.
Plus — have some patience! Not only for your progress, but for yourself. Making lasting change is hard, and it does take time, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. And it’s never too late to start!
Vital 5
Shop
Peek behind the curtain of supplement industry misinformation and enjoy special promotions, podcast episodes, and our No-BS approach to holistic care, sent weekly.
We built the model for finding supplements that work for your wellness, your wallet, and the world. Learn More
Customer Service
Shop
Peek behind the curtain of supplement industry misinformation and enjoy special promotions, podcast episodes, and our No-BS approach to holistic care, sent weekly.
We built the model for finding supplements that work for your wellness, your wallet, and the world. Learn More
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Use only as directed. Consult your healthcare provider before using supplements or providing supplements to children under the age of 18. The information provided hereinis intended for your general knowledge only and is not intended to be, nor is it, medical advice or a substitute for medical advice. If you have or suspect you have a specific medical condition or disease, please consult your healthcare provider.