What's the most common 2025 New Year's resolution? Not calling it a resolution
Vision boards, bingo cards and intentions are in. Goals, however, are still the same
It's that time again.
For many of us, the end of December is when we take stock — of our accomplishments, our blessings, our losses, our pants that stopped fitting comfortably somewhere after the last holiday potluck.
It's a season where we examine our reading goals, our fitness stats, our self-made promises to work less or spend less or let auld acquaintance be forgot because we swore — and meant it this time — that we'd make no time for toxicity this year.
But as 2025 approaches, are people still making New Year's resolutions? They are, although a lot of people are now calling them vision boards.
More than half of the 1,251 U.S. adults surveyed earlier this month for an AP-NORC poll say they'll make at least one resolution for 2025. Millennials and Gen Z were especially likely to be on board — about two-thirds expect to do so, compared to about half of older adults. Women are also more likely than men to say they will set a goal for 2025.
On Pinterest, the search terms "vision board 2025" and "2025 bingo card" are currently trending in Canada. This is especially true among Pinterest users who identify as female, and those age 18 to 34. Some of the most popular pins in these searches include images that inspire travel, exercise, nutrition, and inspirational quotes such as, "I am working on me for me."
On Google Trends, searches for New Year's resolutions are also on the rise in Canada, but so are the breakout terms "2025 bingo card template" and "dream board."
Health, career and relationships are common goals
Vancouver life coach Kira Lynne told CBC's BC Today that her phone typically starts ringing in the last few weeks of December as people want to make changes to their lives. This year has been no exception.
"The common thread is, 'It's time to do something different, last year wasn't working, I want to step into a better place,'" Lynne said earlier this week.
The most common goal she hears from clients is the vague wish to "get healthy," Lynne said.
She said it's important to hone in on specifics and think about what being healthy means to you or what you would do differently. Breaking down goals makes them more manageable, she explained.
Other common resolutions include career goals, and improving or finding relationships, Lynne said.
Here again, she said, it's important to be specific. With career goals, for instance, start by thinking about the purpose of your career, your values and feelings about your job, and going from there, she said.
"Is your purpose to earn more money, or is there more to this?"
In the U.S. poll, about three in 10 adults surveyed chose resolutions involving exercise or eating healthier. About one-quarter said they'll make a resolution involving losing weight and a similar number said they'll resolve to make changes about priorities of money or mental health.
Vision boards and bingo cards
On TikTok, you're more likely to see posts about 2025 goals, intentions, bingo cards, game plans and vision boards — in other words, a resolution by any other name.
In posts on the popular video-sharing platform, users paste images of travel, friends and fitness to their vision boards. They fill in squares on their 2025 bingo cards with goals like "Read 12 books," "Run a 5K," and "Go on vacation with friends."
In a video posted two days ago, TikToker Kaylen Faye offers suggestions for divvying up your 2025 bingo card into five categories:
- personal growth goals (such as reading, decluttering or learning a new skill)
- professional goals (for example, updating your resume or taking a professional development course)
- health and fitness goals (try pilates, cook a new recipe or run a race),
- financial goals (pay off a debt or set a savings goal),
- and goals that promote fun or socializing (like hosting a dinner party or game night).
"It's all about where you are in life and what you want your 2025 to look like," she says in the video, which had more than 156,000 views Tuesday morning.
The no-buy trend
Speaking of financial goals, a growing number of people say they're planning to embrace a "no buy/low buy" trend currently popular on social media.
The trend encourages consumers to rethink their spending habits.
Some of the videos suggest making three lists: what you can buy (like groceries and toilet paper), what you can replace (clothing and necessities), and what you cannot buy (clothes just because, tech and gadgets).
"I would love to be a little more environmentally conscious and not buy brand-new clothes all the time," shopper Alyssa Altomare told CBC Manitoba this week inside a second-hand shop.
Tedi Gilmartin, a thrifter and content creator, told CBC Manitoba she thinks it's time to "dial it back and enjoy what I already have." She said she wants to be intentional and ensure that she's actually going to use whatever she does purchase.
How to keep your goals
Experts acknowledge it takes work to make resolutions stick.
Studies have shown that up to 70 per cent of people who make New Year's resolutions abandon those good intentions within months, according to the Associated Press.
The health and behavioural experts suggest starting small, focusing on what your resolution will help you accomplish, thinking in terms of goals rather than kicking bad habits, enlisting friends for support, and being kind to yourself.
"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 toward others."
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With files from the Associated Press, BC Today and CBC Manitoba