Each New Year, people set goals to lose weight, save money or learn a new skill. But as the months wear on, often those goals are long forgotten. Why is it so hard to stick with resolutions?

A new study from Cornell SC Johnson College of Business has found an answer: The key to achieving goals is less about the outcome and more about enjoying the journey.

Kaitlin Woolley, professor of marketing and management at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, and her coauthors found that people are more likely to stick with goals that are fun, engaging and personally rewarding. The paper, “Adherence to Personal Resolutions Across Time, Culture, and Goal Domains,” published July 15 in Psychological Science.

“Across several studies, including one that spanned a full year and others conducted across different cultures and behaviors like step tracking, we consistently found that intrinsic motivation – doing something because you like it – leads to immediate benefits and predicts long-term success much better than extrinsic motivation – doing something because you seek the reward,” said Woolley.

In the first part of the research, the team tracked 2,000 U.S. adults for a full year after setting New Year’s resolutions. Every few months, the researchers asked the study participants how motivated they felt, both in terms of enjoyment and importance of their goals, and how well they were adhering to their objectives.

“People who found their goals intrinsically enjoyable and motivating were much more likely to stick with them throughout the year,” said Woolley. “Surprisingly, those who said their goals were important or life-changing weren’t any more likely to follow through.”

The researchers then repeated the study in China to see if the results would hold in a different culture. Despite cultural differences in goal-setting values, the pattern was the same: Intrinsic motivation mattered more and prompted the participants to stick with their objectives. People who associated and experienced satisfaction with their goals were more successful than those who simply viewed them as important.

In another study, researchers looked at real-world behavior: how many steps people walked over two weeks. People who said walking offered them a positive experience took significantly more steps than those who said walking was important for their health.

“That’s a big deal, because it shows this effect isn’t just about how people say they feel – it actually affects what they do,” said Woolley.

In a final study, the team designed an intervention to promote goal pursuit, using a health app that allows users to scan the barcode of everyday products (e.g., food, cosmetics) to learn about their health impact. Half the participants were told to focus on how useful the app was – increasing extrinsic motivation to use the app – while the other half were told to focus on how fun and interesting it was – increasing intrinsic motivation. A day later, the “fun” group had used the app far more, scanning 25% more products than the “useful” group.”

Most of us assume that if something is important or valuable, we’ll naturally be more likely to stick with it, Woolley said. But this study shows that how you feel while doing something plays a much bigger role than people think.

Finding delight in the process is what keeps people going, even months down the road, she said

“We learned that people often predict that extrinsic motivation would be more useful in goal setting,” said Woolley. “That belief could be holding them back though, because if a goal feels like a chore, they’re less likely to keep doing it, no matter how much they want the outcome.”

Coauthors include Laura M. Giurge, assistant professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Ayelet Fishbach, professor at the University of Chicago.

Sarah Magnus-Sharpe is director of public relations and communications for the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.