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The Case for Delaying New Year Resolutions ’til January
I love a New Year resolution. They give us something to aim for and help us maintain focus as we work toward them. As you start to tick them off, it builds your motivation to keep working towards the other resolutions you’ve made. At least that’s the idea.
But I hate setting my resolutions on New Year’s Eve along with the rest of the world.
The last day of the second full week in January is widely referred to as ‘Quitters Day’, and no, it’s not because this is when most people ditch smoking. This is when most people give up on achieving the resolutions they made on Dec 31st/Jan 1st.
By then, enthusiasm and motivation have ebbed away. Instead of reviewing the resolutions, they get ditched and people often slide back into the comfortable familiar.
By taking your time to think about your resolutions and goals for the coming year, this day could instead be the one when you’ve finally settled on the goals that really matter to you.
When I’ve determined what’s important for the year ahead, I write my resolutions in colourful fonts and stick them on my kitchen cupboard. This is where I’m guaranteed to see them each morning. There are a couple of reasons to do this.