Most New Year’s resolutions fail. Every January, many of us set lofty goals for the new year, promising ourselves “this time will be different” only to end up in the same spot. Why does this happen? When we pursue self improvement, it’s easy to pick unrealistic goals. This is especially tempting if you follow lifestyle influencers that seem to be living perfect lives. Self improvement seekers may also stack multiple goals on top of one another, without realizing how extreme this is. An example of unrealistic goal setting would be “I am going to wake up at 5am every day and go for a run” when the person is currently sleeping until 9am and doesn’t run. Then they beat themselves up mentally, calling themselves a loser and a failure. This self criticism slashes motivation and makes us feel like our own worst enemy.