Every January, millions of people make resolutions. Join a gym. Learn a new skill. Be more productive. And by spring, most have already abandoned them.
According to a Forbes Health survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, the intent to keep New Year’s resolutions typically lasts just two to four months before people give up or forget about them entirely. Only 8% report their resolutions lasting one month, 21.9% make it to two months, 22.2% reach three months, and just 13.1% sustain their efforts for four months.
Research from Stockholm University helps explain why: while 89% of resolvers maintained their commitments in January, only 55% still considered themselves successful by the twelve-month mark. The reasons are predictable: goals are too vague, too ambitious, or disconnected from daily reality.
But there’s a deeper problem: traditional resolutions assume a stable world where you can plan a straight path from point A to point B. That world no longer exists.
In 2026, the only resolution that truly matters isn’t about achieving a specific outcome. It’s about building a specific capability: Adaptability.
Why Traditional Resolutions Fail in Today’s World
Traditional resolutions are built on prediction and control. You decide what you want, create a plan, and execute it. This works when conditions remain stable.
But today’s environment is anything but stable. AI transforms industries faster than organizations can respond. Economic uncertainty disrupts even the best-laid plans. An unprecedented five generations in the workforce struggle to collaborate across vastly different expectations and communication styles.
When the ground keeps shifting beneath your feet, rigid resolutions become irrelevant. That promotion you planned for? The role might not exist in six months. That new skill you wanted to master? The technology may evolve before you finish the course.
The Stockholm University study revealed another critical insight: participants with approach-oriented goals (focused on achieving something positive) were significantly more successful than those with avoidance-oriented goals (focused on stopping something negative), with success rates of 58.9% versus 47.1% respectively.
This doesn’t mean goal-setting is dead. It means the capacity to adapt matters more than any single goal.
Why Adaptability Is Different
Unlike traditional resolutions that focus on specific outcomes, Adaptability is a meta-skill; a capability that makes achieving any goal more likely, regardless of changing circumstances.
Research consistently demonstrates that Adaptability has become the most critical predictor of success in modern organizations. In an era of constant disruption, the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn outweighs nearly every other competency.
Think of it this way: a traditional resolution is like plotting a route on a map. Adaptability Intelligence is learning to navigate when the roads keep changing.
The 2026 Landscape Demands Adaptability
Several converging trends make adaptability especially critical:
- AI Acceleration: Organizations that don’t adapt risk obsolescence. Individuals who can’t complement AI capabilities may find their roles eliminated. But AI also creates opportunities for those adaptable enough to seize them.
- Multigenerational Workplaces: Five generations working side by side, each with different communication preferences and workplace expectations. Success requires adapting your approach based on who you’re working with.
- Economic Volatility: Whether facing inflation, recession, or geopolitical instability, organizations must pivot quickly. Employees who can adapt become invaluable. Those who can’t become vulnerable.
- Continuous Learning Requirements: The half-life of skills continues to shrink. Adaptability Intelligence means embracing continuous learning as a lifestyle, not a one-time event.
The 4Es Framework: Building Adaptability Requires More Than Willpower
Something many people overlook: Adaptability isn’t merely about trying harder or having the right mindset. It’s a skillset informed by an entire system of human capabilities and external resources working together.
The 4Es Framework provides a holistic model for maximizing people potential through four interconnected elements: Energy Management, Engagement Activation, Event Response, and Emotional Regulation. Event Response is where Adaptability Intelligence expresses itself. But you can’t build strong Event Response without the other three elements in place.
Think of it this way: Event Response is your Adaptability engine. But engines need fuel (Engagement), maintenance (Energy Management), and a skilled operator (Emotional Regulation) to run effectively.
Event Response: Adaptability in Action
This is Adaptability itself; how you respond when circumstances change. Do you see challenges as threats or opportunities? Do you recover quickly from setbacks? Can you unlearn old patterns when they no longer serve you? Your Adaptability Intelligence (AQ) determines whether disruption paralyzes you or propels you forward.
Your 2026 resolution: Practice reframing. When something unexpected happens, ask: “What opportunity does this create?” Train yourself to view disruption as information, not catastrophe. Consider taking an AQ assessment to understand your baseline Adaptability strengths and growth areas.
Energy Management: The Foundation
Adaptability requires energy. When you’re depleted, you default to rigid patterns because adaptation takes effort. Understanding your natural behavioral style (measured through DISC) helps you recognize when you’re operating in an energizing state versus a draining adapted mode. Without energy reserves, even people with high Adaptability scores struggle to respond effectively to change.
Your 2026 resolution: Monitor your energy patterns. Notice when you feel energized versus depleted. Build recovery time into your schedule. It is hard to adapt when you’re running on empty.
Engagement Activation: The Fuel
Motivation fuels adaptation. When work aligns with what truly drives you, your core motivators, you have the intrinsic motivation to push through challenges and embrace change. People adapt most successfully when they’re engaged with what they’re adapting toward. Without engagement, Adaptability becomes directionless and susceptible to apathy.
Your 2026 resolution: Identify what genuinely motivates you. What is your optimal balance of knowledge, economic reward, autonomy, harmony, structure, and helping others? Then actively seek opportunities to align with those drivers, making adaptation feel purposeful rather than arbitrary.
Emotions either fuel or sabotage adaptation. Anxiety and fear are natural responses to change, but if unmanaged, they paralyze action. Emotional Intelligence (EQ), particularly self-awareness, empathy, and impulse control, enables you to navigate change without burning bridges or making reactive decisions. Without emotional regulation, change can provoke feelings of being threatened or undermined. These emotions can lead to chaotic, relationship-damaging responses to change.
Your 2026 resolution: Build emotional awareness. When you feel strong resistance to change, pause and examine why. Look out for over-personalizing circumstances that might not be in anyone’s control. This awareness creates choice in how you respond, freeing your Adaptability Intelligence to work for you rather than burying behind triggered responses that can range from evasiveness, to blame, to even tantrums; none of which are productive.
From Resolution to Practice: Making Adaptability Real
Unlike vague resolutions, building Adaptability means taking specific actions:
- Assess your baseline. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Consider taking an Adaptability assessment to understand your current strengths and gaps.
- Embrace small experiments. Adaptability grows through practice. Each week, try one small thing differently. Take a different route. Start a conversation outside your usual network. Volunteer for a stretch project.
- Reframe failure as data. Adaptable people don’t fear failure; they expect it as part of learning. When something doesn’t work, ask “What did I learn?” not “What’s wrong with me?”
- Build diverse perspectives. Intentionally seek out people who think differently. Read outside your usual sources. Challenge your assumptions regularly.
- Create environmental support. Surround yourself with people who encourage growth. Work for organizations that reward experimentation. Build systems that make adaptation easier.
- Practice preventative maintenance. Don’t wait for a crisis to force adaptation. Invest in building Adaptability Intelligence before you desperately need it through regular reflection, continuous learning, and intentional skill-building.
The Resolution That Compounds
Here’s what makes Adaptability different: it’s a skill that continuously builds on itself, not a goal you either achieve or miss.
Traditional resolutions are binary. “Lose 15 pounds by March”, you either hit the target, or you don’t. “Get promoted this year”, it either happens or it doesn’t. These are outcomes, not capabilities. Once achieved (or abandoned), they’re done.
But Adaptability works differently. Each time you navigate a challenge, whether you handle it perfectly or messily, you’re building capability. You learn what worked, what didn’t, and why. You build confidence in your ability to figure things out. The tenth time you face unexpected change, you’re drawing on the accumulated wisdom of the previous nine experiences.
Adaptability isn’t a destination; it’s a continuously improving capability. And in 2026’s volatile landscape, it’s the capability that you need most to remain relevant, employed, and thriving regardless of what changes.
The Bottom Line
This year, skip traditional resolutions. Don’t commit to rigid outcomes in an unpredictable world.
Instead, commit to building the capability that makes any outcome achievable: Adaptability.
Invest in understanding and optimizing your Energy, Engagement, Event Response, and Emotional Regulation. These four elements work together to create a foundation for navigating whatever 2026 throws at you.
Because in these times of AI acceleration, economic uncertainty, and continuous disruption, the people who thrive won’t be those who made rigid decisions based on their best predictions about the future. They’ll be those who built the capacity to adapt to whatever future actually arrives.
Ready to build your adaptability in 2026?
- Take an AQ Adaptability Assessment to benchmark your starting point
- Explore the 4Es Framework to understand what drives performance
- Discover AQ Certification training to develop this capability within your organization
- Contact us to learn how to build Adaptability and maximize your People Potential