New (School) Year’s Resolutions

By this point in the higher ed calendar, faculty are revising syllabi, deans are scheduling retreats and our inboxes are overflowing, having somehow multiplied while we were away for the summer. Naturally, this feels like the perfect time to also attempt to become entirely different people from the ones we were last academic year. We tell ourselves, with the confidence of people who have apparently never met September, that this year, I will …

Finally keep up with my inbox
Say “no” more often
Not work nights and weekends
Go to the gym every day after work
Actually eat lunch away from my desk
Cancel a meeting that could’ve been an email

If you just read that list without context, you would think it was Jan. 1 and those were my New Year’s resolutions “to focus more on me.” That’s because for those of us who live by the academic calendar, August is our New Year’s Day, just with more email and fewer champagne flutes. And, despite years of evidence to the contrary, we are optimistic that this will be the year when we finally follow through on everything we’ve always wanted to do.

Maybe we do it because we are professional goal setters: Annual evaluations, accreditation benchmarks and even enrollment targets are our fortes. Of course, we then think we can turn ourselves around entirely if we just decide we can. We have strategic plans for everything else—surely we can strategize ourselves into a person who takes lunch breaks.

The problem with resolutions, though, is they can set us up to fail. This is not just my own experience with abandoned resolutions speaking, or conversations I have with patients in February every year. The evidence supports it: According to a 2023 survey by Forbes Health, the average resolution lasted fewer than four months. And none of us in higher ed has a particularly civil relationship with failure.

Consequently, before you turn August into a personal performance-improvement plan, here are a few ways to approach the year with less pressure and a better chance of making changes that actually fit your life. Of course, these ideas will not fix the system or the structural pressures that make your work exhausting. But they may keep you from adding a personal overhaul to an already overwhelming list of additional duties as assigned.

Start with reflection, not judgment. Before deciding what needs fixing, take stock of what worked last year. What gave you energy? What made work feel manageable? What are you proud of? That pause may help you see what to prioritize in 2026–27. You may not need to completely start over; you may just need to protect what was already good.
Avoid massive goals. Break things down. When we write resolutions, we like to jump right into something massive, unrealistic or a complete habit shift: “Exercise five days a week,” “meditate every day.” When we make resolutions this huge, they’re very easy to not accomplish. We start by missing Tuesday’s meditation, and by Wednesday, we decide the plan is ruined completely. Apparently one missed meditation cancels every future one. Instead, we should start with a baby step: “Walk for 10 minutes after my Monday meetings,” “meditate for five minutes at the end of the week.” The point is not intensity or all or nothing. The point is to make the next step small enough that you will actually take it.
Practice self-compassion. When we don’t keep a resolution, we jump right into negative self-talk about how horrible we are and how we are failing at work, at adulting or both. The truth is, no one thinks you are horrible because you didn’t read more in August. When you don’t immediately do what you set out to do, try to start instead with self-compassion. The systems already don’t care about us as people, and we can’t control how our co-workers treat us. We really can only control how we treat ourselves. A good trick? Talk to yourself like you would to a friend who told you the same thing. I don’t think you would tell them they should be fired for a delayed email reply, or at least I hope you wouldn’t.

Be nimble; life changes. Resolutions for a whole year, or even a whole semester, tend not to account for life. Babies, injuries, course cancellations or, you know, a global pandemic—all throw a wrench in the mix. A plan made in August might not fit into the reality of October. That is not a failure, it’s information. Resolutions are more effective if they can be adjusted as needed. It may even teach you on a small scale how to live more in the gray zone and cope with uncertainty.
Instead of goals, consider words or values for the year. Traditional resolutions might also just not be the best fit. Instead, consider choosing a few words or values, such as “curiosity,” to carry with you through the year. This way you’re setting an intention, rather than expecting a reinvention. New beginnings do not require complete transformations. Sometimes they’re just about remembering what matters and resisting the urge to become a different person on day 1.

No matter the challenges with carrying out resolutions for the next academic year, please don’t let me stop you or diminish your planned hopes. Seriously, go ahead and claim your fresh start. Buy the new planner. Color code something if it brings you joy. Just try to leave room for the possibility that you don’t need to become a different person this year. You may only need to be a little kinder to the one already doing the work.

Jessi Gold is the chief wellness officer at the University of Tennessee System and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences. Her writing has appeared in a variety of publications including The New York Times, The Journal of the American Medical Association and In Style. She is also the author of the national best-selling book How Do You Feel? One Doctor’s Search for Humanity in Medicine.

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