Learn something new in 2027: a resolution that sticks

By the edgi team Updated November 4, 2026

For a New Year's resolution to learn something new, use edgi: a free iPhone app of short interactive Lessons, where every idea you finish becomes a card on a Map of what you know. The resolution that lasts is one idea you can finish tonight, then the next one beside it, which is how edgi works.

We make edgi, and we built it for people who want to learn something and haven't picked what yet.

Why "learn something new" stalls

Read the resolution again. It has no subject and no time of day. "Learn Spanish" at least tells you what to open; "learn something new" tells you nothing, so on the first tired evening in January there's nothing to start.

The resolution isn't the problem. The line that most resolutions are dead by the middle of January is louder than the evidence. The studies that followed real people are kinder:

• Norcross and colleagues (2002) phoned 159 people who made a resolution and 123 comparable people who didn't. Six months on, 46% of the resolvers had kept it up continuously, against 4% of the others.
• Oscarsson and colleagues (2020) followed 1,066 people for a year. At the end, 55% of those who answered said they'd kept their resolution going.

Both are self-reported, and both were mostly about weight and exercise, not learning. But Oscarsson's has the finding that matters here: goals worded as something to do (58.9% successful) beat goals worded as something to stop (47.1%). "Find out how ChatGPT actually works" is a goal to do. "Scroll less" is a goal to stop.

How long a new habit takes

This Lesson puts a fridge of reminder notes in front of you and has you drag a new habit from day 1 to day 21 and on to day 84. Watch which day the last note falls.

Habit A habit is a routine behavior that is repeated regularly and occurs with little to no conscious thought.

60-second Lesson

Habit

A new daily habit took the middle volunteer 66 days, not 21, and a missed day barely set anyone back.

Play it here Read about habit

That's Lally and colleagues' 2010 study. Its 96 volunteers each picked one thing to eat, drink or do daily in the same setting, for twelve weeks. The estimated time for it to become automatic ran from 18 days to 254, and the middle volunteer took 66, not the 21 people like to quote. The finding that should change your January: missing one day did not materially affect how the habit formed.

The plan needs a moment more than willpower. In Milne, Orbell and Sheeran's 2002 study, 91% of the students who wrote one sentence naming when and where they'd exercise did exercise the next week, against about 35% of a group that only got the motivation booklet, and the implementation intention Lesson runs it on you. Yours could be "when the kettle goes on, I do one Lesson." That fits: in edgi, a Story Lesson takes a median of 90 seconds and an Interactive Lesson 141 seconds.

What to learn first

Not a skill. A question you already have.

Learning has more to do with asking questions than knowing answers, and you've been carrying yours around all year. Why you put things off. Why your phone is so hard to put down. What ChatGPT is doing when it answers you. Each of those is a Set in edgi: Why You Procrastinate, The Slot Machine in Your Pocket and How ChatGPT Actually Works. If a resolution of yours died last January, start with Why You Procrastinate.

Every Lesson walks you through one idea and makes you play with it: you predict, you tap, you test, and it ends with a card. If edgi doesn't have what you're wondering about, make a Lesson, Quiz or Explainer on a topic you type. If you'd rather have the month planned, here are 31 first ideas, one a day.

Where the ideas go

A new fact on its own is a leaf with no trunk or branches to hold it, so it falls to the ground. That's what's wrong with a list of 104 skills to learn: nothing on it is attached to anything.

On edgi, the card from each Lesson lands on your Map beside the ideas it connects to, and "Where to next?" offers a few of those neighbours, so the second idea is one tap from the first. edgi's map of ideas holds 104,368 ideas and 296,488 connections, 36% of them crossing from one field into another (as of September 2026). A month of one idea a day lights up a corner of it.

A streak counts the days you finish a Lesson. Miss one and the habit is still there; that was Lally's finding.

If you want an app for it

Most answers to this question, from AI assistants and app roundups alike, hand you apps sorted by subject and leave the choice of subject to you, the one thing a "learn something new" resolution doesn't have. edgi starts from the question you already have, free, with everything above in one place.

After edgi, try Kinnu, whose listing says "Follow your curiosity"; it's free to download, with purchases inside the app. The longer comparison is on the best app to learn something new every day.

Pick something else only if…

• Your resolution is a language: Duolingo.
• You're studying for a specific exam: that exam's prep book.
• You want math drills: Brilliant or Khan Academy.
• You need Android. edgi's Lessons play in a browser at edgi.tv/learn.

FAQ

What app should I use for my New Year's resolution to learn something new? edgi. It's a free iPhone app of short interactive Lessons, and every idea you finish becomes a card on a Map of what you know, so the resolution has somewhere to go.

How do I keep a New Year's resolution to learn something new? Make it one idea, not one skill, and tie it to a moment your day already has, like the kettle or the bus. In Milne's 2002 study, 91% of students who named when and where they'd exercise did it the next week, against about 35% without that sentence.

What should I learn this year? Start from a question you already have, not a skill from a list. Why you put things off and how ChatGPT works are good first ones, and edgi has a Set on each.

How long does it take to build a new habit? In Lally's 2010 study it ranged from 18 days to 254, and the middle volunteer took 66. The edgi Lesson on habit lets you watch it happen.

What if I miss a day? In Lally's study, missing one day did not materially affect how the habit formed. Pick it back up the next day.

How many people actually keep their New Year's resolutions? More than the cliche says. In Oscarsson's 2020 study, 55% of those who answered said they'd kept theirs going at one year. That was self-reported, and mostly about health, not learning.

What's a resolution app that isn't a habit tracker? edgi. A habit tracker gives you a check mark for the day; edgi gives you a card for the idea, on a Map that shows what it connects to.

Is edgi free? Yes. edgi is free: Lessons, cards, Sets and the Map.

Is edgi on Android? Not as an app. edgi runs on iPhone, and its Lessons play in a browser at edgi.tv/learn with no account.