Three Things That Can Still Make 2025 Count

I'm in Las Cruces, New Mexico, delivering the twelfth rendition in three days of the same goal-setting workshop, and I'm nearing the end. After repeating the same information so many times, I'm not even sure I'm forming complete sentences anymore. I ask the same question I've asked eleven times before and prepare to hear the same responses.

“Who set a New Year’s resolution this year?”

A response I’m not expecting snaps me out of my robotic facilitation trance.

“There’s no point in setting goals. You said it yourself, barely anyone achieves them.”

I pause, unsure of how to handle the pessimism, especially since he literally quoted me as a reference. Aren’t I supposed to be motivating these students? I realize that most of the others don’t share his attitude, so I move on and decide to circle back later.

When the students are working on a question in their notes, I take the chance to revisit the conversation. The student, Javi, tells me he did set goals this year but got discouraged early on and gave up. He says he’s been in a funk and feels like a failure.

I spend the next five minutes talking with Javi about goal setting, success, and the idea of progress. He shares his 2025 resolutions with me, and together we reframe them, knowing we only have two months left. Jointly, we come up with three things Javi can do to still make 2025 count.

While I can’t speak for Javi, the conversation was valuable for me. When we finished, I pulled out my phone and made a note of those three things so I could share them in this week’s newsletter.

If you’ve felt discouraged about your progress this year or stuck in a funk when it comes to personal growth, try these three things in November and December to still make 2025 count.

Dust Off and Reframe

The goals you set earlier this year were important enough to become goals, and some of them deserve a second chance. Just like an old photograph, reframing an old goal can give it new life. Start by asking yourself, “Which of these goals still excite me?” Then rewrite that goal somewhere you’ll see every day.

Fractionalize Your Goal

If you had a goal at the beginning of 2025 to run 100 miles this year, decide what fraction of that goal is still achievable and reset it. We have one-sixth of the year left—two months—and isn’t achieving one-sixth of your goal better than achieving none of it?

“Lock In” for 10 Days

I stole this phrase from my friend Kyle’s Instagram story, but for Javi it meant reframing and refocusing for ten days to get back on track. Choose three simple actions you can take each day and commit to doing them for ten days. That small burst of consistency can create momentum that leads to real progress.

I hope 2026 brings excitement and new growth for you and your goals, but it’s too early to write off 2025 completely. We still have two months left—what will you do with them?

Fact

Over 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February, but research shows that people who revisit and reset their goals later in the year are still twice as likely to make measurable progress.

Action

Reframe one failure as progress. Write down what you learned and one way it made you stronger or clearer about your priorities.

Question

Which of your old goals deserves to be dusted off and reframed?

Quote

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” - C.S. Lewis