A new year. A fresh start. But can I sustain it?

I had a strong start, setting goals and intentions for the year in both my professional and personal life, but here we are a few months into the year, and I feel all of that resolve falling away. Granted, I am still pursuing my goals, but the edge I had in January is gone, and the habits I put in place to achieve them are dwindling.

Do you feel that way? You set yourself up for success and just knew this was going to be the year you did that thing, or turned that other situation around, and now life creeps in, as it always does, and derails your progress? I mean, there are times when goals be damned, I’m just trying to make it through the day.

We all hit a point where our goals lose momentum, and a brief reset may be the answer. Here are three things you can do to recalibrate and get your goals and the habits that support them back on track.

Over the past several years, a lot of people have chosen one word to define the year ahead. I love that idea, and I do it every year. It becomes the year of “change” or “gratitude,” you get the idea. I love this concept more for an overarching attitude about life, but if my goal is to lose weight, or get up earlier, or go for that promotion, I need something measurable to hold myself accountable to. If I want to make progress, I need to define what success looks like in real terms: how many pounds, how many days a week, what time I’m getting up, what step I’m taking toward that promotion. For me, “get up earlier” can’t stay vague. It has to become “in bed by 10:30 and up by 6:00 four days a week.” As the saying goes, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Measuring your goal forces you to define the plan, and that’s when real progress starts.

Goals are one thing, but if your day to day actions and habits don’t support them, you won’t achieve them. In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” Those systems are the daily habits that support your goal. Setting a goal is the easy part. Sticking to the habits that support it is where progress happens. He also offers practical strategies for building habits that stick, but the bigger lesson is this: if your habits don’t support your goal, your goal will stay out of reach.

Setting a goal gives you direction for the year, but if you don’t revisit it, it’s easy to lose momentum. You need to revisit and recalibrate your goals often. Life gets busy, and before we know it, our goals take a backseat. We need to remind ourselves what we’re working toward. Things change, and sometimes the habits that worked in January stop working in April. What worked in January may need to change based on what life has handed us. Reflecting and adjusting is part of the process. As James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, “You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.” That’s why I recommend a quarterly check-in. It gives you a chance to be honest about what’s working, what isn’t, and what needs to change before more time slips away.

Goals need more than intention. We have to make them measurable, build habits that support them, and adjust as life changes. Three months in is a good time to pause, reset, and recommit to the work. Go get it done. Make a difference.