How to Actually Achieve Your New Years Goals

Today we’re going to talk about achieving goals. 

January can often arrive full of brilliant intentions and genuine determination… then February rolls around, life gets busy, energy dips, and motivation quietly slinks away. Our goals didn’t exactly fail, they just… stopped happening?

From a clinical perspective, this has very little to do with laziness or a lack of discipline. In most cases, it’s actually because the goal was never structured in a way the brain and nervous system could realistically sustain alongside real life.

The part most people don’t realise is that motivation is not the foundation of long-term change, structure is. And thankfully, neuroscience and behavioural science give us a very clear framework for how to build goals that actually stick.

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1. Start With One Real Priority, Not a List of Intentions

The brain is brilliant at pursuing one clear priority. It is less good at juggling several vague ones. ‘Getting healthier’, ‘having more energy’ or ‘saving more’ are not priorities - they’re themes. A real priority is a single outcome that would meaningfully improve your life over the next few months.

This matters because the prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain responsible for planning, focus and follow-through - needs a clear target. Vague goals increase cognitive load and decision fatigue, which makes consistency far less likely.

A helpful question to ask:

If only one thing improved over the next 3–6 months, what would have the biggest knock-on effect?

Start there and you can layer other changes later.

Pro Tip → look for the why behind the outcome. 

For example: Why do you actually want to lose weight? Just saying that you want to decrease the number on the scales is too wavy. Weight management is usually more about confidence in our own skin, if we frame a rejig of our habits around being able to walk into a room in a body that allows us to be our best and happiest self this becomes a much firmer reinforcement to continue in the sticky moments (which always come). 

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2. Set the Challenge at the Right Level

There’s a neurological sweet spot when it comes to goal difficulty. If a goal is too easy, the brain disengages. If it’s too hard, the nervous system perceives threat, stress hormones rise, and avoidance behaviours appear.

Neither of which leads to consistency!

The most effective goals are challenging but clearly achievable with effort.

A simple test:

• If success feels guaranteed → it’s probably too easy
• If failure feels inevitable → it’s too much
• If it feels possible but will require consistency → you’re in the right zone

This matters because dopamine (the neurotransmitter involved in motivation and learning) is released most reliably when effort is required and progress feels possible.

Pro Tip → pre-empt your pain points.

You want to be more consistent with your activity. Fantastic! But the gym is 20 mins away and it’s grim to get there when the weather is bad. Or there’s a class you like but it’s in a lunch break which can sometimes be compromised by work deadlines. 

Remove those barriers in advance. Decide that you’ll go to the gym but only on the days/weekends when you have a bit more time. Structure your workouts to be weather proof, have a backup plan to train at home, or alternatives that you can do on mornings when you’re tired. Barriers to entry progressively become less of an issue as you establish routine but in the beginning they are the things that can knock you off course very easily. 

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3. If You Can’t Measure It, Your Brain Can’t Learn From It

One of the most common reasons goals drift is the lack of feedback. The brain learns through feedback loops. Without clear feedback, it has no way of knowing whether effort is working… and then motivation drops accordingly.

This doesn’t mean tracking everything obsessively. It means choosing one observable behaviour that tells you whether you’re moving in the right direction. For example:

• ‘Eat better’ becomes
  ‘Include a protein-rich breakfast at least five days a week’
  
  
• ‘Get fitter’ becomes
  ‘Complete three strength sessions per week’

Pick one primary metric. Making it easier for yourself is far more powerful than trying to be perfect. 

Pro Tip → Do not underestimate the power of a visual checklist!

Yes I give my clients star charts because seeing those markers ticked off each day is the best way to keep consistent on the days it feels less easy. Make yourself a table and put in everything from water intake to going to bed and getting up at the same time. Congratulate yourself for every win however ‘small’ it may seem. Cumulative tangible reward is the most incredibly powerful motivator.  

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4. Break the Goal Into Milestones

Big goals are hard for your brain, which struggles to stay engaged with outcomes that feel distant or undefined. How do we solve this? Milestones.

They turn a long-term goal into shorter, achievable steps, with each one providing a sense of progress. And that sense of progress is crucial.

Dopamine isn’t released when we achieve a goal, but when we perceive that we’re moving towards it. For health-related goals especially, results aren’t always immediate. Milestones allow progress to remain visible even when outcomes lag.

Ask yourself:

• What will progress realistically look like after 2 weeks?
• 4 weeks?
• 8 weeks?

If you can’t answer that, then first things first, the goal likely needs refining. But also more importantly are your targets actually likely to happen by those time stamps. If you’re looking for total evolution in a month I am sorry to break this to you but you will be disappointed and that is the best way to sabotage sticking to anything long term.

Pro tip → many different elements impact how our bodies will respond to change over time. 

For example if your check in at 2 weeks is after starting a new strength training program and you track progress on the day after a weights session you will be recovering. Your muscles will be holding water, your immune system will be working hard and those jeans you want to fit into will feel tight. But if you’re understanding that this is normal and you have the visual reinforcement of tracked consistency you won’t be demotivated by this. Similarly if you track progress in your luteal rather than follicular phase your hormones will impact your physical evolution.

Focus on the journey, understand it’s a long game and know that consistency will always pay off. If it were up to me I’d suggest people ditch scales to track progress totally…

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5. Define the Action States (This Is Where Most Goals Fail)

A goal isn’t real until the action states are clear, meaning what you’re actually doing, on specific days, in real life.

‘Move more’ isn’t an action state, but ‘Monday, Wednesday and Friday at this time, I do a 30-minute strength session at home’ is.

Why this matters: decision-making is metabolically expensive for the brain. If you have to decide each day whether or not you’re doing the thing, consistency drops the moment energy, mood or blood sugar dips. Clear action states remove friction, and dramatically reduce reliance on willpower.

Pro tip → pre-plan and schedule your goals.

I am not talking about suddenly planning all your meals for the month in advance but I am suggesting you take the time once a week/fortnight to pick your workouts/exercise plan and schedule them in your diary. Do the same with your meals for the week and have those in a semi-ready state to go.

Pick a breakfast you love and that satisfies you, repeat it for as long as you want! Pick a format of lunch that is conducive to the time you have to eat in the middle of the day but again you enjoy. Have a couple of snacks ready, one more savoury and one with a touch of sweetness if you tend to fancy something like this in the afternoon. And have a plan for what evening meals will look like. Any leftovers feeding into lunch the next day are fab too. 

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6. Tools That Genuinely Improve Follow-Through

Directed visualisation (not manifestation)
Visualisation works when it focuses on process, not fantasy. Instead of imagining the end result, visualise yourself doing the work - the environment, the effort, the mild discomfort. This primes the motor cortex and reduces stress when you start.

Variable rewards
Dopamine responds more strongly to unpredictable rewards than guaranteed ones. Occasionally surprising yourself - an unplanned rest day, switching a gym session for a dance class with a friend, picking a new playlist, having a slightly indulgent breakfast. These aren’t breaking routine, they’re actually helping to keep motivation circuits engaged.

Optimise your environment
From both a behavioural and functional medicine perspective, environment matters more than willpower. Prep food. Lay out kit. Reduce friction. Fewer decisions mean lower stress and better consistency.

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The Takeaway

Achieving your goals isn’t about personality or discipline but about understanding how the brain and nervous system work and setting goals that align with them.

• Choose one clear priority.
• Set the right challenge level.
• Make progress measurable.
• Break the path into steps.
• Define the actions.
• Reduce friction and make it easy.

Follow these steps and you’re in for a far better chance of still working on your goal long after January ends.

Good luck!