We’ve welcomed the new year in and toasted each other and our hopes for 2026.

Tomorrow, we return to hum-drum routine. But perhaps we’ll head to the office with an extra dash of determination.

This year, we’ve avowed, we’re going to exercise more, lose that Christmas turkey’s worth of ballast around our waist, eat more vegetables, get our finances under control ….

It’s nothing we haven’t promised ourselves in years past. But this year, we promise ourselves, it’s going to happen.

According to Cornell University researchers, sticking to New Year’s resolutions and achieving goals may be less about the outcome and more about enjoying the journey.

The findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, challenge the long-held assumption that if a goal is important or valuable, we’re more likely to succeed with it. Instead, the researchers say, we’re more likely to stay committed to resolutions that are fun, engaging and personally rewarding.

Doing something because we like it — also called “being intrinsically motivated” — is more likely to lead to........

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