The 3-2-1 method: a doctor's guide to keeping New Year's resolutions

Welcome to the first weeks of the new year. A great moment to check in.

How are you doing? How are you feeling? Energy level?

The first days of the new year come with a lot of excitement and a lot of pressure.

Excitement for the sense of renewal and becoming better versions of ourselves. Excitement in putting the last year to rest and starting with a clean slate. Excitement at putting down some old habits and picking up some new habits.

Pressure to become better, to change, to have ambitious goals. We feel that pressure each time someone innocently asks us about our New Year’s resolutions. However, a lot of the pressure in January is self-inflicted. It comes from a very good place: our desire to improve and enhance our lives and our living. And pressure, whether external or internal, can be a very good motivator for us to do things we would not otherwise do. Think back to coaches, teachers, and bosses you have had. The ones that got the most out of you probably did so through a healthy amount of pressure to succeed.

A few thoughts as we link arms to accept the challenge and opportunity that 2026 provides us, motivated by both the excitement and pressure to make some good changes.

Flexibility and timing

First, the need to be flexible. I had a patient this week who proudly told me they want to exercise every day this year. It was the fifth day of the year when they told me, and they had not yet started. So, their ability to move the start date back a few days is going to be a key to their success. Many folks who set the same goal would have already given up if they hadn’t started on January 1.

Second, if you don’t feel like you have had a chance to set meaningful goals for 2026, make space to do just that. The holidays can get busy, and lots of us emerge from them without having had the time to reflect on what we want to work on. Take part or even the entire month of January to come up with goals for yourself. This isn’t a timed test. Take as much time as you need.

Community and strategy

Third, find and build your community that will support you in these goals. Life is a much easier game when we are surrounded by family and friends, neighbors and classmates, co-workers and supporters. Strengthening your community may even become a goal in itself for the new year.

Last, once you have goals in hand, I like the 3-2-1 method for getting started. Think about the 3-day, 2-week, and 1-month perspective on the goal. This is the art of making bite-sized morsels out of an overwhelmingly sized cake.

Take, for example, a goal of trying to learn to swim.