2025 is nearly over: Meet the UAE residents who 'hacked' their New Year resolutions
When Saudi rapper-comedian Amy Roko began 2025, she decided to treat her body like it was the last designer bag on earth – rare and expensive. To do this, she made the resolution to work out four times a week. She fulfilled the resolution throughout the year. Her trick? Microhabits and romanticising her actions. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.“Instead of ‘go to the gym’ I wrote ‘touch the gym door’ and I ended up training four times a week,” she said. “Also, I romanticised everything. If I’m drinking water, I pretend I’m in a K-drama hydrating before a dramatic confession.” Every New Year, many make bold resolutions. Come February and gym memberships and planners often lay forgotten, gathering dust. However, a handful of UAE residents cracked the code on how to make lasting changes and stuck to their resolutions.For Dubai resident Riya Awtaney, the secret was turning her resolution into a bargain. Her goal was simple: 10,000 steps a day. The incentive? Guilt-free phone time.“Walking became my designated time for scrolling, sending voice notes and online shopping,” she said. “If I wanted to use my phone or add things to my online shopping cart, I had to earn it with steps and somehow that bargain worked.”On days she fell short of her target, she found creative ways to stick to it. “Some evenings ended with me doing loops around the living room or even going up and down the building corridors like a woman on a mission,” she said. ConsistencyFor others, the shift was more mental than physical. Alifa Barnes, Marketing Manager at Dubai Holding Entertainment, didn’t set a resolution so much as a mindset – intention.“I stuck to it by constantly asking myself: Am I choosing this with intention, or am I just reacting,” she said. “This helped me slow down, be more conscious of my decisions, and stay aligned with what truly mattered to me.”Alifa Barnes Her biggest ‘hack’ was letting go of guilt. “If I caught myself acting out of habit or fear, I didn’t beat myself up,” she said. “I paused, reset, and chose again.” That same theme shows up in the journey of content creator Aastha Kurup, whose 2025 goals included consistent content creation and buying her first car. Her breakthrough came when she stopped treating consistency like an unbroken streak.“Most people fall off and mentally write the whole year off,” she said. “I learned to restart immediately instead of waiting for some imaginary reset. That mindset carried into other parts of my life too.”Working in three-month “quarters” instead of planning a perfect year helped her juggle a first job, university and creative growth without burning out. No resolutionsFormer Australian Paralympic Swimmer and New Balance ambassador Jessica Smith said she doesn’t believe in resolutions in the traditional sense. “I’ve always been someone who sets goals so I’m someone excited to learn as I go,” she said. “But in 2025, the intention I held onto was consistency.”She said that advocacy is slow, often quiet work, and the challenge is staying committed without needing immediate outcomes or validation. “I’ve learned that consistency isn’t about motivation or perfection, it’s about aligning daily actions with your values,” she said. This consistency helped her step into several roles including that of Accessibility Advisor with Dubai Airports and Sports Ambassador for Dubai Sports Council.Jessica Smith Speaker and author Dr Katherine Iscoe feels that New Year's resolutions aren't aspirations but instead apologies. “They are apologies for not being disciplined enough, thin enough, productive enough,” she said. “We frame them as self-improvement, but what they really represent is a twelve-month contract to become someone else.”She said real change doesn’t come from trying to fix yourself into worthiness but instead comes from self-respect. It involves choosing goals because they align with who people are and not because it will earn them approval.NYE 2026 in Dubai: Sheikh Zayed Road, Burj Khalifa metro station to close; timings revealedTwo midnight ball drops, jumping over 7 waves: How some countries will ring in New Year 2026'Dubai Bling' star Farhana Bodi shares her New Year resolutions
When Saudi rapper-comedian Amy Roko began 2025, she decided to treat her body like it was the last designer bag on earth – rare and expensive. To do this, she made the resolution to work out four times a week.
She fulfilled the resolution throughout the year. Her trick? Microhabits and romanticising her actions.
Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow KT on WhatsApp Channels.
“Instead of ‘go to the gym’ I wrote ‘touch the gym door’ and I ended up training four times a week,” she said. “Also, I romanticised everything. If I’m drinking water, I pretend I’m in a K-drama hydrating before a dramatic confession.”
Every New Year, many make bold resolutions. Come February and gym memberships and planners often lay forgotten, gathering dust. However, a handful of UAE residents cracked the code on how to make lasting changes and stuck to their resolutions.
For Dubai resident Riya Awtaney, the secret was turning her resolution into a bargain. Her goal was simple: 10,000 steps a day. The incentive? Guilt-free phone time.
“Walking became my designated time for scrolling, sending voice notes and online shopping,” she said. “If I wanted to use my phone or add things to my online shopping cart, I had to earn it with steps and somehow that bargain worked.”
On days she fell short of her target, she found creative ways to stick to it. “Some evenings ended with me doing loops around the living room or even going up and down the building corridors like a woman on a mission,” she said.
Consistency
For others, the shift was more mental than physical. Alifa Barnes, Marketing Manager at Dubai Holding Entertainment, didn’t set a resolution so much as a mindset – intention.
“I stuck to it by constantly asking myself: Am I choosing this with intention, or am I just reacting,” she said. “This helped me slow down, be more conscious of my decisions, and stay aligned with what truly mattered to me.” Alifa Barnes
Her biggest ‘hack’ was letting go of guilt. “If I caught myself acting out of habit or fear, I didn’t beat myself up,” she said. “I paused, reset, and chose again.”
That same theme shows up in the journey of content creator Aastha Kurup, whose 2025 goals included consistent content creation and buying her first car. Her breakthrough came when she stopped treating consistency like an unbroken streak.
“Most people fall off and mentally write the whole year off,” she said. “I learned to restart immediately instead of waiting for some imaginary reset. That mindset carried into other parts of my life too.”
Working in three-month “quarters” instead of planning a perfect year helped her juggle a first job, university and creative growth without burning out.
No resolutions
Former Australian Paralympic Swimmer and New Balance ambassador Jessica Smith said she doesn’t believe in resolutions in the traditional sense. “I’ve always been someone who sets goals so I’m someone excited to learn as I go,” she said. “But in 2025, the intention I held onto was consistency.”
She said that advocacy is slow, often quiet work, and the challenge is staying committed without needing immediate outcomes or validation. “I’ve learned that consistency isn’t about motivation or perfection, it’s about aligning daily actions with your values,” she said.
This consistency helped her step into several roles including that of Accessibility Advisor with Dubai Airports and Sports Ambassador for Dubai Sports Council. Jessica Smith
Speaker and author Dr Katherine Iscoe feels that New Year's resolutions aren't aspirations but instead apologies. “They are apologies for not being disciplined enough, thin enough, productive enough,” she said. “We frame them as self-improvement, but what they really represent is a twelve-month contract to become someone else.”
She said real change doesn’t come from trying to fix yourself into worthiness but instead comes from self-respect. It involves choosing goals because they align with who people are and not because it will earn them approval.
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