Goals vs. Resolutions: The Difference Matters (Especially If You Lead People)

It’s early January, which means everyone is making promises to the calendar.

Some of them are thoughtful.

Some of them are guilt in a trench coat.

And most of them get buried somewhere around mid-February, right next to that half-used planner you swore you’d “really stick with this year.”

That’s why I think it's important to draw a clear distinction between two things we treat like the same thing:

Goals and resolutions.

Which, as per the focus of this article - aren’t synonyms.

And if you lead people, mixing them up can wreck your team’s energy before Q1 is even warmed up.

What's a Resolution?

A resolution is usually a statement of identity or intention.

• “I’m going to be a better leader.”

• “We’re going to communicate more.”

• “I’m going to prioritize self-care.”

• “We’re going to be more strategic this year.”

None of these are bad. But the problem here is that they’re not operational.

Resolutions are broad, emotionally charged, and often powered by a mix of hope & frustration from last year. They’re the leadership equivalent of saying, “This year I will simply be a different person.”

Which…sure. Good luck with that.

Resolutions tend to fail because they assume two things:

1. that motivation will stay high, and

2. that life won’t life.

What's a Goal?

A goal is a measurable target tied to a timeframe.

• “By March 31, we’ll reduce onboarding time from 6 weeks to 4.”

• “This quarter, we’ll implement weekly 1:1s with a consistent agenda.”

• “By the end of January, I’ll have completed two skip-levels with every team lead.”

Goals are testable. And you can tell if they happened, you can adjust them, and you can resource them.

But, from my own experience, there's something leaders don’t like admitting:

Goals still fail all the time too.

It's not because people don’t care, but because leaders set goals like they're wishes…and then act shocked when the system can’t support them.

Which brings me to the real issue...

The hidden reason goals and resolutions fail is that you’re building on walls

In my book Pillars & Walls, I talk about how most leaders start the year by changing walls.

Walls are the structures: calendars, workflows, meetings, tools, processes, plans, roles, routines, operating norms, etc.

They’re adjustable. They can move...and they should absolutely move.

But leaders often treat walls like the foundation, when they’re actually the construction.

So we do things like:

• add a new goal without removing anything

• declare a “culture shift” without changing how decisions get made

• tell people to “communicate more” while keeping the same chaotic meeting structure

• push higher performance while ignoring the human cost of constant whiplash

If you want a different year, you don’t start with a prettier resolution.

You start with pillars.

Pillars: what leaders should set before goals

A pillar is a non-negotiable principle that holds the year up, even when things get messy.

Pillars sound like:

• “We tell the truth early.”

• “We don’t make everything urgent.”

• “We don’t punish people for naming problems.”

• “We ship, then improve.”

• “We protect deep work.”

• “We don’t add without subtracting.”

Here’s the test:

If your team is under stress, behind schedule, or dealing with uncertainty, as yourself: do your values stay intact, or do they collapse immediately?

If they collapse, they were never pillars. They were slogans.

And slogans don’t carry a team through the year.

The real leadership move in January is to convert resolutions into pillars, then build goals on top

Most leaders do this backwards.

They start with goals, stack 12 priorities, and then act confused when the team is exhausted, cynical, or outright disengaged by February.

Try this instead:

Step 1: Name the resolution you’re tempted to declare

Example: “We’re going to communicate better this year.”

Cool. But “communicate better” is not a plan. It’s a wish.

Step 2: Turn it into a pillar (a behavioral commitment)

Example pillar options:

• “We clarify decisions in writing.”

• “We don’t leave meetings without owners and next steps.”

• “We address tension directly instead of triangulating.”

• “We default to fewer meetings, better meetings.”

Now you have something you can actually build around.

Step 3: Build goals that prove the pillar is real

Examples:

• “By February 15, every recurring meeting has a purpose, owner, and decision type.”

• “Starting next week, all project decisions are documented in one shared place.”

• “We will reduce ‘status’ meetings by 25% by March 1.”

Now your goals aren’t random. They’re evidence.

What leaders can actively do right now (for themselves and their team)

Here are five moves that are boring on paper but powerful in real life.

1) Do a subtraction audit before you set new goals

Ask:

• What are we stopping?

• What are we pausing until Q2?

• What are we doing out of habit, not impact?

If you don’t subtract, your goals are just weight.

2) Set one team pillar for how you’ll work together under pressure

Pick one. Make it simple. Make it real.

Examples:

• “We name tradeoffs out loud.”

• “We don’t rush decisions to reduce our anxiety.”

• “We don’t create false urgency.”

Then explain what it looks like when someone violates it (because they will).

3) Translate goals into “walls”: the structures that make them possible

For each goal, ask:

• What has to change in our meetings, roles, tools, or routines?

• Who owns that change?

• What’s the weekly cadence that keeps this alive?

If the wall doesn’t change, the goal is basically decorative.

4) Run a “truth meeting” with your team

Not a motivational kickoff. A reality check.

Three prompts:

• What felt heavy last year that we don’t want to repeat?

• What do we need from each other to stay healthy and effective this year?

• What’s one pillar we want to commit to as a team?

Leaders love setting direction. Fewer leaders create the conditions for it.

5) Make the “how” visible, not just the “what”

A team can survive ambitious goals.

What breaks people is:

• unclear priorities

• shifting expectations

• constant “emergencies”

• and leaders pretending the plan is working when it isn’t

Visibility is kindness. Clarity is retention.

A simple way to frame the year

If you want a clean mental model:

• Resolutions are what you hope becomes true.

• Pillars are what you refuse to sacrifice to get there.

• Goals are what you commit to achieving.

• Walls are what you build or change so it can actually happen.

That’s the difference between “new year energy” and real leadership.

Not hype. Not hustle. Not slogans.

Just a team with a few clear pillars… and walls that support the year you said you wanted.