LONDON (AP) — As the new year dawns, so too does the opportunity for change.
Experts say January can be a good time to reflect on self-improvement, but acknowledge it takes work to make resolutions stick.
Studies have shown that up to 70% of people who make New Year’s resolutions abandon those good intentions within months.
Here are some tips for how to keep those resolutions when your willpower starts to falter.
Psychologist Lynn Bufka suggests being realistic about any resolutions.
“It’s quite daunting to say that you want to lose 50 pounds and thus, will never eat dessert again,” she said. “It might be more helpful to say, you’re only going to have dessert on the weekends and for special occasions.”
Behavioral health experts recommend breaking ambitious goals into smaller targets, like swapping at least one snack for fruit and vegetables or getting some exercise for 10 minutes every day. Once you start hitting these smaller goals, the bigger one might not seem so daunting.
It’s tough to make big changes. Bufka said that simply thinking more positively about what your ultimate goal is — and what you're gaining from your changed behavior — can bolster your motivation.
“If I put money in a jar for what I would have spent on chocolate every day, that starts to add up.” explained Bufka, deputy chief of research and policy at the American Psychological Association.
Focusing on what the resolution is helping you to accomplish — rather than what you’re being deprived of — can be a powerful way to reframe your thinking, experts say.
A study of New Year’s resolutions published in 2020 found that people who focus on specific goals are more successful than those simply trying to kick bad habits.
In a group of more than 1,000 people, scientists found the most popular resolutions involved exercise, weight loss and eating habits. Other resolutions focused on self-improvement, personal finance issues and ways to focus on mental health and reduce stress.
Among the 55% of people who said they’d kept their resolutions after one year, nearly 60% of them had made resolutions involving goals versus 47% of those focused on avoiding certain behaviors.
Involving others in your efforts, both for support and to hold yourself accountable, may also help. Someone who decides to start exercising more, for example, might find it useful to join a running group or find a gym class with friends, to make training less of a chore.
Experts also recommended scheduling time into your calendar to help you keep your resolution, like blocking off a specific period every morning or evening.
Change is hard, so don’t expect perfection. There will inevitably be times when it feels impossible to keep your resolution or you want to give up.
“A great resolution might be, ‘I will be less judgmental with myself,’” said Tamara Russell of the British Psychological Society. “Research shows that the more we develop self-compassion, the more compassionate we can become towards others.”
Lastly, if Jan. 1 feels like an artificial date to adopt new resolutions, make the changes on your own schedule.
Russell said it makes “no sense at all” to make resolutions pegged to the calendar year, given that winter is typically a time of hibernation for much of the natural world.
She said that spring, as a season of growth and renewal, might be a better time for most people to embrace change.
To better keep resolutions, Russell suggests reviewing each week what has and hasn't worked.
“Keep refining and don't be afraid to adjust and fine-tune what you are doing,” she said. “Study your own behavior like a scientist.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - A runner appears in silhouette while running in temperatures in the 70s, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, under a bridge near the Charles River, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
FILE - The 2025 New Year's Eve numerals are displayed in Times Square, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - A cyclist and two joggers in silhouette navigate the bike path along Lake Michigan at the 31st Street Harbor Saturday, May 27, 2023, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2019, file photo a "Happy New Year" hat lies on the wet ground along with other items following the celebration in New York's Times Square. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, File)
SUZUKA, Japan (AP) — Yuki Tsunoda finally has his promotion at Red Bull. That was difficult enough, elevated to the top team last week as Liam Lawson was demoted to Red Bull's No. 2 Formula 1 team — Racing Bulls — after failing to score points in the season's first two races.
Delivering will be even tougher as Tsunoda joins a long list of Japanese drivers with varying degrees of success in F1. His first Grand Prix for Red Bull is on Sunday in Japan.
Tsunoda faces pressure before adoring home fans, is another Japanese driver trying to crack through, and bears the weight of racing alongside four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen.
What advice has Red Bull team principal Christian Horner given him?
“Be close as much as possible to Max,” Tsunoda said Thursday at the Suzuka track. He described as “brutal” not being chosen initially by Red Bull for this season, but looked relaxed taking question about this abrupt promotion.
“I'm not saying I'm confident that I can perform straight away like Max,” he added. But he said he was confident he could produce well compared with “other drivers” Red Bull might have chosen.
Lawson also appeared relaxed, smiling as he took questions about his demotion.
"It's something I wasn't expecting,” Lawson said. “It's something that obviously is not my decision and for me it's about making the best of it.”
Lawson attributed part of doing poorly in his first two races with Red Bull to unfamiliar tracks in Australia and China. He'd been hoping to prove himself in Japan, where he drove last season in F1.
This time it will be with Racing Bulls and not Red Bull.
“This is what I was looking forward to from the start, to be honest,” he said, referring to the Suzuka circuit in central Japan. "To a track that I've been to before and just have a proper sort of preparation. It's a track we all like a drivers.”
This is Tsunoda's fifth season in F1, and he needs to deliver points for Red Bull. His best career finish was fourth place in Abu Dhabi in 2021. He's finished out of the points with Racing Bulls in the first two Grand Prix races this season, but placed sixth in the sprint race almost two weeks ago in China.
Red Bull's car this weekend will run with a white paint job, a tribute to automaker Honda. Verstappen has won four consecutive titles with Honda power. This is Red Bull's last season with Honda, moving next year to Ford. Honda moves to power Aston Martin next season.
This is his best chance, and Tsunoda will have to excel to stay with Red Bull. Not just for this season, but for next.
Almost 20 Japanese drivers have competed and none has won an F1 race. Japanese have reached the podium only three times in F1. And all were third-place finishes.
Aguri Suzuki was the first to reach the podium, finishing third in the 1990 Japanese GP.
Kamui Kobayashi was third in the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix driving with Sauber and has scored more points in F1 than any Japanese driver.
Takuma Sato managed a third in the 2004 U.S. Grand Prix. He is also a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
McLaren has won the first two races — Lando Norris in Australia and Oscar Piastri in China — in a field that looks tightly bunched.
Norris leads the driver standings with 44 points, followed by Verstappen with 36 and George Russell of Mercedes with 35. Piastri is one point back with 34.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who joined Ferrari this season after departing Mercedes, has only nine points. He was 10th in Australia and was disqualified in China following postrace scrutineering. His best result so far is a win in the sprint race in China.
Hamilton has won five times in Japan, and his Ferrari team has vowed to fix the mistakes that saw Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc disqualified in China.
AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan responds to a journalist's question during a news conference at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Thursday, April 3, 2025, ahead Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix race. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan, center, flanked by Kick Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg of Germany, left, and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, responds to a journalist's question during a news conference at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Thursday, April 3, 2025, ahead Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix race. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan responds to a journalist's question during a news conference at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, Thursday, April 3, 2025, ahead Sunday's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix race. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
FILE - RB driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan talks at a press conference during a Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic, File)
FILE - RB driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan, celebrates his third place after the qualifying session ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Interlagos race track, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini, File)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan performs a demonstration run during an event in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan performs a demonstration run during an event in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda of Japan smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, ahead of the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, Wednesday, April 2, 2025.(Kyodo News via AP)
