I was talking with my parents after Christmas about New Year’s resolutions, and they said they set goals instead of making resolutions. I thought about that statement and realized that I had been erroneously using the terms interchangeably when defining my intentions for the new year.
From Resolutions VS Goals: Which is Better for Your Success?:
A resolution is a firm decision to do, or not to do, something. It is a promise to yourself and typically more open-ended, with no specific time frame for change. [..]
A goal is a targeted outcome that often has a timeline, be it short or long-term, and requires a specific plan of action in order to make it happen. Goals are not merely your intentions, they are a commitment.
The article lists pros and cons of both, but my key takeaway was that resolutions are best for things that require little to no planning whereas goals are better for things that require a process and accountability. For example, I might make a resolution to only have one Coke Zero per day or I could set a goal to decrease my Coke Zero intake to one per day over the next two months. The resolution would be the “cold turkey” approach and easiest to implement but, depending on how much Coke Zero I might drink, potentially harder to honor. The goal would allow me to scale back my consumption over time so that the change would be less dramatic, but I would need to plan a reduction schedule and track my progress.
When I reflected on past resolutions I decided that most had been goals (which explains why the ones without defined plans were not accomplished). I like goals better because they feel more purposeful, so this year I won’t be making resolutions, but instead defining goals.