New Year, New You: Keys To Staying Motivated This 2025

2025 is here, and with it comes a fresh wave of energy to tackle our goals and dreams. It’s always a good idea to start the year with something to strive for. The tradition of having a New Year’s resolution is a way for us to reflect on where we are at the moment and the new changes we should aspire toward in the forthcoming months.
But as the weeks roll on, life can often get the best of us and it’s easy for that initial spark to fade, leaving us unmotivated and stuck. The good news is motivation isn’t just an event or movement that happens at the start of the year, but is actually a skill you can cultivate!
We sat down with sports psychologist Kenneth Roy V. Aranas, RPm, RPsy, and talked about what motivation is — what fuels it and what hinders us from achieving the goals we set for ourselves. Whether you’re striving for personal growth, career milestones, or healthier habits, keep reading to discover the keys to maintaining your momentum.
Motivation As Your “Why?”

A dictionary-based definition tells us that motivation is a psychological force that initiates behavior. The word is derived from the Latin word “motivus” which means “a moving cause.” It goes without saying that motivation is an internal phenomenon that makes us act toward a particular aim.
There are several other definitions for it, but it all boils down to one thing, which Kenneth simplified, “Motivation is basically your ‘Why?’ It’s your drive, which is the basis for a lot of our behavior.”
We often come across this term when setting up goals for the new year. Everyone welcomes January with renewed energy and excitement, hoping to achieve things that will change the course of their lives. For the most part, there are several theories in psychology that try to pinpoint people’s basic motivations, but Kenneth explained that it mostly depends on one’s context and situation.
“At different stages of life, we need different things. In the earlier stages, we’re motivated a lot by care or being taken care of. As we grow older, we start to become more social. So, the needs change. Now, we go to school, we need to get good grades, and we need to learn and interact with people. As we grow even older, our motivations change again. You start to connect with people, so you need to establish yourself. You need to create your identity. So what fuels motivation? It really depends on the person and we can look at it from where you are in life. What’s important to you or necessary for you at this stage of your life.”
Our needs fuel our motivations. If you’re striving for a healthier lifestyle, it drives you to set fitness goals — to go to the gym more often or add more to your daily step count. If one is striving to get promoted, they might decide to take up a master’s degree or to take up more leadership roles in the office. The things we want to achieve stoke the flames of our drive and kickstart our momentum.
Now that we know what fuels it, we also need to be aware of what hinders it. Motivation is like a muscle and just like toning one’s body, it requires time and effort to train. Setting up goals is easy enough especially when you know your “Whys” well. But is it enough to simply just set goals?
Kenneth answered, “We have to be very realistic about the goals, especially now we're in an age of instants. A lot of people want instant gratification, and if they can't get it, they’re like ‘I don't want to do it anymore.’ There are people who give up easily if they don’t achieve a goal.”
Let’s take a look at fitness goals. A lot of people set objectives like losing weight or gaining more muscle. They’re often energized in the first few weeks, sticking to their workout routines but later on, the motivation begins to fade, and they lose interest in keeping up with their exercise sessions.
This brings us to the first enemy of motivation: Time. People often set lofty goals that are meant to be achieved over time. Change doesn’t happen overnight. Your six-pack won’t magically appear after a few days of doing crunches.
The passage of time also means things are constantly happening which pushes us to shift our priorities. When priorities change, so does our drive. If you’ve set up a daily step count of 10,000 steps a day while working full time in front of a computer, it may make it feel unachievable as you won’t have time to complete it.
Kenneth reminded us, “A key part of motivation is setting smaller goals for yourself to make sure that you're achieving small steps every day or in increments.”
Another enemy we should be aware of is social comparison. Kenneth explicated that comparing yourself to others “puts you back mentally.” When we see others progressing faster or more successfully than us, it makes us wonder what we’re doing and fosters self-doubt.
“There are a lot of things that people don't realize when it comes to things like fitness, for example. There’s a lot of time and effort that is required in order to actually achieve that goal. If you go to the gym, there will definitely be people progressing at different rates. So, it's not really a matter of comparing yourself to them but where do you want to be?”
“Every day is an opportunity to learn something new, and just because you're not making significant progress daily doesn't mean you're not progressing. It doesn't mean that you're not getting a little bit better. Small progress is still progress.”
Keys To Staying Motivated
Practicality is key in sustaining that driving force that pushes us closer to our goals. We’re listing down helpful practices that will help keep you motivated all year round.
Make SMART Goals

Kenneth stated that motivation is a “very individual experience” that deals with the goals we set for ourselves. There is no specific theory that provides a step-by-step procedure for sustaining our momentum, but the psychologist expressed that we need to be practical when setting up our goals — making sure that they’re Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
“It’s actually a blueprint for setting goals that can be achieved [SMART approach]. A lot of people set these big, lofty goals, but they tend to forget the smaller [goals] — more achievable ones that can actually help boost your motivation,” he explained.
“If there are days where it feels like you didn't accomplish anything, maybe that's because the goals that you set for the day are too difficult. So, a more practical solution would be to set a smaller goal for yourself today.”
Intention is also a big factor when setting up goals. As motivation is our “why,” it’s important to understand the core of that “why” and determine its layers, so you can better recalibrate your objectives and achieve them within a reasonable time frame.
Practice Mindfulness

This movement encourages people to be present in the now. Mindfulness is all about focusing on what’s going on in your life right now without worrying about the future or obsessing over the past.
This practice helps us be more laser-focused on what we hope to attain. Looking too much into the future or our action’s consequences fosters hypothetical scenarios that tend to slow down our progress. These are things that haven’t — or might never even happen. So why worry? Ever heard of the saying, “We’ll cross the bridge when we get there?” It’s the same for setting up goals.
“I think that mentally we need to remind ourselves that at the end of the day, we are ultimately in control of our actions. We need to practice focusing on what we can do right now rather than focusing on the ‘What Ifs.’”
Reward Yourself

You deserve it! Every hard work should be rewarded and recognized. Rewards are key to sustaining motivation because nothing drives a person more than the promise of something good. Why do you think people are motivated to buy holiday drinks at Starbucks? It’s to collect the stickers for the reward, namely the limited-edition planner.
When we celebrate our wins, it brings a sense of accomplishment which in turn makes us feel energized to keep going, to keep making progress.
However, we also have to make sure not to overdo it, otherwise it loses its meaning. Kenneth raised the importance of diversifying the rewards and warned that getting used to them may lead you to skew your results.
In a fitness goal, for example, if you put more steps into your daily count for the day, your mind may reason that walking a little bit more would count as going to the gym for that day. Although you're still getting the exercise that you're looking for, it's not the same thing.
“You'll try to find a shortcut,” Kenneth explained. “Which will not always be beneficial to you in the long run. So, don't forget to reward yourself, while also mixing up the rewards.”
Be Resolute This 2025
Having a New Year’s resolution is a great way to welcome the new year as it gives you purpose and sets you off toward a better future — more specifically, a better version of yourself.
But the psychologist reminded us about the whole point of the tradition, and how it shouldn’t be our only goal for the year.
“We need to remind ourselves of the deeper impact of what a resolution is,” he said. “Taking a look at the word, it’s a much heavier thing to be resolute — to stand by principle on something that you will make a change. That you are committed to something. So, you need to really embody that.”
He also pointed out how priorities change over the course of a year and that we should be able to adjust our goals as necessary. We need to be mindful and ask what’s important in our lives right now to set attainable goals and have checkpoints throughout the year.
“You need to mentally prepare yourself to make change because it’s not something that happens overnight. If you get demotivated in February then you need to recognize that maybe I set this goal a little bit too high. Maybe we can change it into something that's a little bit more doable. Small goals matter for you to be able to say to yourself, ‘Okay, I achieved this small one, maybe we can step it up a little bit.’ You need to consistently challenge yourself.”
For counseling and mental wellness inquiries, you can get in touch with Kenneth via Instagram.
Get the latest curated content with The Beat Asia's newsletters. Sign up now for a weekly dose of the best stories, events, and deals delivered straight to your inbox. Don't miss out! Click here to subscribe.