Looking at New Year's resolutions

I always find the concept of New Year's resolutions interesting. This year is the first in a while that I haven't actually recorded anything down that I want to achieve for the year—but I'm also aware that with the way the world has been going of late, just getting through the day is an accomplishment sometimes! 

Some recent research from habit-forming app MinChallenge surveyed app users from their teens through to their 80s about resolutions, and I thought these were some interesting points!

Health and fitness was #1

No real surprise here, but the number one habit that people want to develop in 2025 was improving health and fitness. I feel like this is not just unique to Japan but around the world, really, since it was often a new year's resolution I would make too. It wasn't just aerobic fitness that survey respondents mentioned, but also muscle training and stretching, which I was happy to read—I feel like that's a more balanced approach rather than folks who focus on exercise simply for burning calories.

Sleep health was a goal for Gen Z and seniors

While health-focused habits dominated the list overall, the survey revealed some interesting generational differences. For Gen Z (under 20) and seniors (over 60), the top habit they wanted to adopt is better sleep—specifically, going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. Obviously, how well we sleep is one of those key elements of overall health, and probably something that a lot of people overlook, so I thought this was an encouraging (and different!) new year's resolution that I might try to incorporate in my own life.

Establishing routines also piqued the interest of respondents

It's hard to stick to any kind of resolution without some sort of regularity or routine, and routine-building was something that many respondents wanted to work towards. This ties in to the point above about better sleep health, but survey participants also mentioned routines like decreasing their smartphone usage. This is another area that I hadn't thought about making a resolution for, but one that I think is really worthy of considering. Sometimes when I look at my phone usage data from week to week I really wonder about how much wasted time I have spent just mindlessly scrolling. 

There was a little self-promotion in the press release I read about this topic (obviously since it was run by a habit-forming app they are trying to push that side of things), but I do think it's perhaps worth considering some form of habit app to keep track of any goals or behaviors you want to incorporate into day-to-day life.

Do you know of any good habit forming apps for the new year? How do you keep track of any goals you want to achieve for the coming twelve months?