Beat Quit Day by Turning Your Resolution Into A Habit

We're entering the period of January when people are most likely to quit on the goals and resolutions they set for the New Year. Strava, the popular fitness app maker, calls January 19th "Quitters Day."

Don't give up. Instead, change your perspective. As I wrote on this day in 2023:

Change from the resolution mindset to a habit-building one. If you're trying to do something this year, take it in small increments, make a plan you can realistically follow, celebrate your wins, and give yourself grace when you miss the workout or don't write in your journal like you wanted. It happens, don't let that be an excuse for giving up on something important.

Another thought I shared in the latest issue of my newsletter:

Think of a resolution as a wish. It’s a nice thought, a dream you’d like to have come true, but without action, there’s often little more than a random chance that it will happen.

If your resolution was to go to the gym two times a week but you’ve only made it there a few times, that’s okay. Don’t stop going to the gym because you didn’t live up to a resolution that was based more on hope than what you could actually do.

Instead, Build a new habit, go to the gym once a week. Reevaluate at the beginning of the next quarter and see if you want to change that. See if you CAN change that. build the habit based on what you can do, not based on what you thought you should do because of all those “new year, new you” advertisements that clutter your screens.

I’m full of grace for the last few weeks. I haven’t published anything, although I have done some writing that I'll be sharing soon. My kids have needed more of me, and I’m always here for them. I appreciate your patience, too.

The Fresh Start Effect: Why You're Compelled to Make New Year’s Resolutions

If you feel compelled to make a New Year resolution, there's some science behind that. At the beginning of last year, I wrote about the Fresh Start Effect, which Dan Pink wrote about in his excellent book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Dan referenced research that demonstrated how using a significant date as a temporal landmark to start something new was helpful in our navigation of time.

You can read my whole piece here, which includes a brief summary of the differences between social and personal landmarks and offers some basic tips on sticking with it. Remember to check out Dan's book, too; I read it in 2022 and still reference it regularly.

It's worth noting that most resolutions, even with the best intentions, do not stick. That's largely down to a misunderstanding of the power of habits and an inability to change those negative soundtracks that get stuck in our heads. Some further reading offers helpful insights to making successful resolutions beyond just stating a goal to your fellow revelers over champagne while watching the Death Star blow up.