This post gives some useful vocabulary about the topic "New Year's Resolutions for 2026"

New Year's Resolutions Vocabulary List

Nouns (Main Ideas)

Resolution - A firm decision to do or not to do something.

Goal - Something you want to achieve.

Plan - A set of steps to do something in the future.

Habit - A regular action that you do without thinking.

Skill - An ability to do something well.

Hobby - An activity you do for fun in your free time.

Challenge - Something difficult that tests your ability.

Progress - Movement towards a goal or improvement.

Motivation - The feeling that makes you want to do something.

Accountability - Being responsible for your actions and decisions.

Verbs (Actions)

Achieve - To succeed in doing something.

Improve - To make something better.

Focus (on) - To give your attention to one thing.

Track - To follow and record your progress.

Stick to - To continue doing something, not give up.

Give up - To stop trying.

Adjectives (Descriptions)

Specific - Clear, exact, and detailed.

Realistic - Possible to achieve; practical.

Healthy - Good for your body or mind.

Excited - Feeling very happy and eager about something.

Useful Phrases

Break down (a goal) - To divide a big goal into smaller steps.

Get started - To begin doing something.

Work on - To spend time trying to improve something.

Long-term - For a long period of time in the future.

Advanced Vocabulary for Discussing Goals and Resolutions

Nouns

Aspiration - A strong desire or ambition to achieve something significant.

Objective - A specific, measurable target often used in formal or professional planning.

Milestone - A significant event or stage in the progress towards a goal.

Mindset - A person's established set of attitudes and way of thinking.

Perseverance - Continued effort to achieve something despite difficulties or delay.

Setback - A problem that makes progress more difficult or reverses previous progress.

Adversity - A difficult or unlucky situation or event; hardship.

Consistency - The quality of always behaving or performing in a similar way.

Procrastination - The action of delaying or postponing tasks.

Reflection - Serious thought or consideration about one's actions or experiences.

Verbs

To commit (to) - To dedicate oneself to a cause or activity; to make a firm decision.

To cultivate - To try to develop or improve a skill, quality, or habit.

To pursue - To follow or seek something, such as a goal, in a determined way.

To attain - To succeed in achieving something, especially after effort.

To reassess - To consider something again, especially in order to change an opinion or plan.

To streamline - To make a process or system more efficient and simple.

To persevere - To continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty.

To prioritize - To decide which tasks or goals are most important and deal with them first.

Adjectives

Ambitious - Having a strong desire for success or achievement; requiring great effort.

Sustainable - Able to be maintained over the long term without causing burnout.

Tangible - Clear and definite; real, and able to be touched or measured.

Intentional - Done on purpose; deliberate.

Resilient - Able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

Disciplined - Showing controlled behavior and the ability to follow a strict routine.

Useful Phrases and Collocations

Actionable steps - Clear, practical actions that can be taken immediately.

Hold oneself accountable - To take personal responsibility for one's progress or results.

Step out of one's comfort zone - To do something that feels new, unfamiliar, or challenging.

Fall into a rut - To become stuck in a boring or unchanging routine.

Lose momentum - To experience a decrease in the speed or progress of an activity.

Course correction - A small change made to get back on the right path toward a goal.

Long-standing goal - A goal that one has had for a long period of time.

Advanced Vocabulary for Articulating Goals and Self-Development

Nouns

Telos - The ultimate purpose or end goal; the principle objective.

Exigency - An urgent need or demand that often requires immediate action or adaptation.

Edification - The process of intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement.

Paradigm - A typical example, pattern, or model of thinking about something.

Vicissitude (often plural: vicissitudes) - A change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant.

Austerity - Sternness or severity of manner or practice; often referring to rigorous self-discipline.

Quintessence - The most perfect or typical example of a quality or class; the purest essence.

Antecedent - A thing or event that existed before or logically precedes another, often influencing it.

Precipitant - An agent or cause that initiates a process or event, often hastily.

Metamorphosis - A profound or complete transformation in form, structure, or character.

Verbs

To ingrain - To firmly fix or establish (a habit, belief, or attitude) so it becomes ingrained.

To galvanize - To shock or excite someone into taking action; to spur.

To circumscribe - To restrict something within limits; to define narrowly.

To transmute - To change in form, nature, or substance, especially to a higher form.

To ossify - To become rigid, fixed, or inflexible in habits, attitudes, or opinions.

To expedite - To make an action or process happen sooner or be accomplished more quickly.

To reconstitute - To change the form or organization of something; to rebuild or reconstruct.

To extrapolate - To extend the application of a method or conclusion to an unknown situation by assuming existing trends will continue.

Adjectives

Sisyphean - (Of a task) endless and futile, akin to the punishment of Sisyphus in Greek myth.

Tenable - Able to be maintained or defended against challenge or objection (e.g., a tenable plan).

Untenable - Not able to be maintained or defended; unsustainable.

Corollary - Following as a natural or logical consequence; resultant.

Provisional - Arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later; temporary.

Salient - Most noticeable, important, or prominent.

Iterative - Involving repetition of a process or set of operations to achieve a desired outcome.

Useful Phrases and Conceptual Terms

Delayed gratification - The act of resisting an immediate reward in favor of a larger, later reward.

Cognitive dissonance - The mental discomfort experienced when holding two or more contradictory beliefs, values, or ideas, often leading to a change in attitude or behavior to reduce the discomfort.

Zero-sum game - A situation in which one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss, implying no net benefit.

Existential reflection - Serious contemplation about one's purpose, freedom, and place in the world.

Feedback loop - A process in which the output of a system is circled back and used as input, influencing future outputs (can be reinforcing or balancing).

Precommitment strategy - A technique to lock oneself into a course of action in advance to overcome a predicted lack of future willpower.

Path dependency - The concept that past decisions or historical events heavily constrain present and future options.

Diminishing returns - A point at which the level of profits or benefits gained is less than the amount of money or energy invested.