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How To (Actually) Become The Best You In 2025

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Illinois chapter.

We all hear about the same New Year’s resolutions every year, but how can we actually stick to them? College is a great time to work on yourself and figure out who you truly want to be. If you want to make some real change this upcoming year, keep reading to find out how you can live the life you’ve always wanted!

Discipline over motivation

Motivation is great to get started, but sometimes it becomes really hard to stay in that mindset. That’s why we need to focus on discipline instead. Discipline keeps you going on the days where you don’t want to do the things you told yourself you would. Focusing on building up small habits that are sustainable to complete everyday is a great way to get into a discipline mindset.

consistency over perfection

We exercise for two weeks (yay!) and then we miss one day and become lost and unmotivated. It’s happened to me, and it’s probably happened to you with some habit you wanted to create. The idea here is to stop focusing on being perfect with your goals. Those days are going to happen where your goal isn’t completed, and that is OK! Instead of giving up on your goal, make sure to do it the next day and don’t forget why you started. Overtime, your consistency and ability to pick yourself back up after a missed day is what will lead to your success and accomplishments.

“EVerything” to-do lists

Some people only make to-do lists on busy days to ease their mind. A better idea is to make a list every morning, and put even the smallest tasks on it. This could be things like brushing your teeth or making lunch. I find that this makes me feel successful and motivated because I get to check off a box for everything I complete. To make this even easier, you can download an app so you don’t have to worry about having a paper list with you everywhere you go.

Meet your self again

The New Year is a perfect time to take a look within and find who you are. This might sound cliche or cringe, but you probably don’t know yourself as well as you used to. College is extremely busy and we tend to focus on everything but ourselves. Try to take time to do things you may have used to enjoy, but don’t have the time for anymore. This can allow you to rediscover parts of yourself that became buried under all the stress of becoming an adult.

I hope these tips were more unique than your usual and basic New Year’s resolutions. With this advice, I hope you can start to become who you want to be and develop habits or goals that will lead you there. Happy holidays and have a great New Year!

Macy Hull

Illinois '26

Hey! My name is Macy Hull and I'm a junior studying Advertising! When I'm not doing schoolwork, you'll find me drinking iced chai, being creative, or watching Love Island. I hope you enjoy reading and that I can inspire you to write more (or type!).