Welcome to the resolution graveyard.
Let us take a moment of silence for last year’s New Year’s resolutions that didn’t quite make it through. I’m looking at you, “Lose weight and exercise more,” and you, “get rid of toxic people in my life.”
On a side note, an interesting study by Norcross and Vangarelli (1988) indicated that 23% of people break their resolution within the first week of making it. Only 19% maintain it after two years.
I’m not saying resolutions are useless, and I’m also not saying that the vast majority of people don’t have the willpower to stick with them. The issue lies in a Cerberus effect: your resolution was too big, too vague, and too dependent on you suddenly becoming a different person.
A lot of companies do this too. They see January as a reset. “We’re going to boost sales by 30%, break down silos, and be more innovative.” And to that I say, “Cool, cool. Do you want me to tell you why that’s going to fail right now, or after?”
The problem is your objective. Don’t set goals. Don’t set resolutions. Create rules. Small and specific. Why? Because they’re easier to start and maintain than something grand like “we’ll be more agile, we’ll be pioneers in our industry, and then we’ll climb Mount Everest as a team.”
Here are some examples of New Year’s Rules I think every company should set. You don’t need to do all six forever. Do them for a week. Keep the ones that resolve the most issues or reduce the most friction. Toss the ones that don’t.
Rule for Week #1: No same-day “urgent” tasks unless something is on fire.
Tiny rule: If it’s truly urgent, you should be able to explain to your employees in one sentence why—and what gets deprioritized.
Why this works: It reserves your team’s energy for tasks that truly require it. Creating an immediate sense of urgency for tasks that don’t deserve it sets a precedent that’s hard to change.
Why? Because when something is “urgent,” the team goes into overdrive. They work longer. Faster. The work gets done—but at a cost, and that’s not sustainable.
Ask yourself:
- “Is this urgent because of a deadline, a risk, or just my personal discomfort?”
- “If we don’t do this today, what will most likely happen?”
- “What’s the smallest thing we can do to offset the urgency?”
Rule for Week #2: Two-line priorities only.
Tiny rule: Every week, each person (or team) gets two lines:
- Top priority this week
- What won’t happen this week
Why this works: When everything is important, people default to frantic mode—and then nothing gets finished. Or they do get everything done, but burn themselves out in the process.
Examples of two-line priorities:
- This week: set up our first marketing campaign. Not this week: website redesign.
- This week: check on backlog orders. Not this week: look for new suppliers.
- This week: close out the top 10 customer issues. Not this week: reorganize the entire help center.
Rule for Week #3: Cancel one meeting.
Tiny rule: Cancel (or shorten) one recurring meeting.
Why this works: January fatigue is real. People are rebuilding routines, energy, focus, and tolerance for nonsense. Meetings are where tolerance goes to die.
What to replace it with:
- A 5-bullet update in an email or Slack message: Done / In progress / Stuck / Needs a decision / Next step (or what we’re not doing)
- A single question to each employee or team lead: “What’s stuck right now?”
Rule for Week #4: Have one uncomfortable conversation.
Tiny rule: Have one conversation you’ve been avoiding—small is fine.
I’m not saying you need a dramatic confrontation or a “we need to talk” situation. Just bring something into the open that you’ve been sidestepping because it’s mildly uncomfortable. This goes for you and your team—so yes, remind people to be tactful and not turn this into a soap opera—or boxing match.
Examples:
- “We need more reasonable deadlines.”
- “I’m tired of people finishing the coffee and not making a new pot.”
- “Someone keeps stealing my milk/snacks/lunch, and I want that to stop.”
Why this works: Minor annoyances become major ones when they go unresolved. Resentment, frustration, and stress build up—quietly at first, then all at once. Eventually it stops being one person’s issue and becomes everyone’s problem.
Rule for Week #5: One win first.
Tiny rule: Before you dive into a big task, do one 20-minute “win task.”
A win task is something small but visible: send an email, finalize a decision, finish a loose end, push one thing across the finish line. A quick but impactful win.
Why this works: Starting the day in reactive mode is how people end up working all day and feeling like they accomplished nothing.
Win task ideas:
- Send that email you’ve been rewriting for three days
- Make the decision you’ve been waiting to “feel ready” for
- Close one ticket that’s been haunting the backlog
Rule for Week #6: If it annoys you twice, it becomes a system problem.
Tiny rule: The second time something annoys you, write it down. The third time, fix the process (even a little).
Why this works: January is full of recurring issues that everyone treats like back pain:
- “It’s on the list.”
- “We’ve all learned to live with it.”
- “Yep, it’s been like that for a while.”
No. That’s a broken loop.
Examples of tiny fixes:
- A template for recurring client requests
- A shared doc for “how we name files so we can find them again”
- A log of incomplete, de-prioritized projects (what’s done, what’s left to do, where you left off)
If you want this reset to survive past January 31, here’s the key:
Don’t treat these as personality changes. Treat them as small objectives. Pick 2 to keep.
The goal is not “perfect.” The goal is “noticeably better.”
If you don’t know which to choose, start with:
- No same-day urgent unless it’s on fire
- Two-line priorities only
Those two alone cut down chaos fast.