According to data from Strava, the fitness tracking app, “Quitter’s Day” (the day most people drop their New Year’s resolutions) is the second Friday in January. By mid-February, eighty percent of resolutions are dead.
If you are reading this, you are likely walking around with a low-grade sense of failure.
You promised yourself you would hit the gym, save money, or read more. You didn’t. You think, “Well, I blew it. I guess I will try again next year.”
That is insanity. Waiting ten months to fix your life because of an arbitrary calendar date is a trap. You don’t need a time machine; you just need a new date.
The Fresh Start Effect
Behavioral scientists call this the Fresh Start Effect.
Humans separate time into “epochs” (like “Before College” or “After the Breakup”). We are significantly more likely to tackle goals when we feel like we are entering a new epoch.
Here is the glitch: January 1st is actually a terrible time to start a new habit. It is dark, it is cold, you are broke from Christmas, and you are exhausted. It is biologically the worst time to change behavior.
February is superior. The days are getting longer. The holiday chaos is gone. Your brain is ready.
The Lunar Sweep
In Chinese culture, the Lunar New Year isn’t just a party; it is a System Reset.
There is a tradition called chuchen, or “sweeping the dust.” You literally clean your house to sweep away the bad luck (entropy) of the old year. You also pay off your debts so you enter the new year at “Zero.”
This aligns perfectly with our earlier discussion on Environment Design/Shinto. You cannot put fresh groceries in a fridge full of rotten food.
Stop trying to add new habits on top of a messy life. Reset the life first.
The Quarterly CEO
This week is Presidents’ Day. In the corporate world, CEOs don’t just plan once a year; they do Quarterly Reviews.
Treat January as a beta test. It didn’t count. It was just data gathering on why you failed. Now that you have the data, you can launch the real product.
Treat February as the official “Go Live” date.
Instead of a massive 12-month goal (which is a fantasy), set a goal for Q1 (March, April, May). A 90-day goal is visible. You can see the finish line.
The Red Envelope to Yourself
You have a long weekend. Use it to perform a Physical Reset.
1. The Lunar Sweep Deep clean one room in your house. I don’t mean tidy it; I mean scrub it. Remove the entropy.
2. The Debt Payment Forgive yourself for the failed January resolution. That debt is paid.
3. The 90-Day Goal Set one simple goal for the next three months.
January was the practice round. The real year starts now. Happy New Year.
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