Imposter Syndrome, New Year’s Resolutions, and Incremental Growth

At the start of each year, we write down goals with the best of intentions: eat better, exercise more, be more productive, finally finish that book, and the collective "I gotta go to the gym."

We imagine a New Year, New You. And yet the data are consistent: only about 9% of people actually keep their New Year’s resolutions, 23% quit within the first week, and roughly 64% abandon resolutions by the end of January.

I find this both humbling and illuminating, not because we’re flawed, but because human transformation is incremental, not instantaneous. What feels like failure often isn’t failure at all; it’s evidence of growth in progress.

When Expectation Outpaces Capability

Imposter syndrome lives in the space between who we are and who we think we should be. It’s that voice whispering, “You’re not enough.” Oddly, it shows up most often when evidence says otherwise sometimes after a promotion, a finished project, a new opportunity or precisely when we’re stepping into the next version of ourselves.

New Year’s resolutions trigger that voice, too. We set sweeping, identity-laden goals (“I will be disciplined,” “I will be successful,” “I will be fit”), yet our behavior is still rooted in existing habits. When our actions don’t immediately match the imagined identity, our brain interprets the gap as incompetence, not growth. That’s where self-doubt and resignation begin.

Reframing the Narrative

But what if imposter feelings aren’t signs of fraudulence, what if they are markers of transformation? The discomfort signals that we’re operating outside our comfort zone, stretching into new capacities.

The research on resolutions reinforces this: people who do succeed rarely flip overnight. They build small, repeatable habits. They track progress instead of perfection. They celebrate incremental wins instead of waiting for dramatic milestones.

For example, committing to “walk 20 minutes three times this week” is both measurable and achievable. Committing to “be healthy” is abstract and easily gives way to judgment when you miss a day. Goals tethered to process and not identity align more closely with sustained change.

Incremental Growth Is Not Linear ~ And That’s Okay

Growth doesn’t happen in straight lines. It doesn’t happen in neat calendar segments. The journey from not yet to here to becoming involves setbacks, recalibrations, and learning curves. Each misstep is not evidence that you “can’t” it’s evidence that you’re stretching.

Imposter syndrome, then, is not something to eliminate. It is something to understand. It doesn’t go away when you’re “good enough.” It recedes when you recognize it as a companion to growth, as a sign that you are outside your comfort zone and moving forward.

Similarly, the narrative of resolution failure dissolves when we shift from an all-or-nothing mindset to a sustainable progress mindset. Completed goals aren’t the only evidence of growth; consistent effort over time, even with imperfect consistency, is just as meaningful.

Practices for Sustainable Change

Here’s what works ~ not once, but repeatedly:

• Define actions, not identities. Walk 20 minutes, write 200 words, cook one healthy meal.

• Track what you do, not just what you intend. Evidence matters.

• Celebrate small wins. The brain takes cues from what it can see.

• Practice acceptance. Acceptance doesn’t mean surrender. It means seeing where you are without erasing who you want to become.

This is incremental growth in action: small, consistent, intentional steps that, over time, transform your habits and your sense of self.

Not Yet, Not Fully ~ But On the Way

This year, don’t chase a perfect version of yourself dictated by a date on the calendar. Instead, notice what changes when you treat imposter syndrome not as a flaw to fix, but as a signpost of growth. Notice what happens when you orient your goals around actions instead of identities. Notice how progress, even tiny, compounds.

There is no finish line where you suddenly become “enough.” There is only the ongoing work of becoming,one step, one practice, one iteration at a time.

And that ~ minute by minute, choice by choice ~ is where real transformation lives!

Namaste.

Izzy