Why Wait for January 1? Your Glow-Up Starts Now!
2024 was a tough year for me. It started in January when I lost my Dad after a 9 days of hospice care for end-stage kidney failure. I became my mother's main source of support. We moved her out of the house that built decades of memories, then it was time to sell the house in a poor housing market. It's been a year of grief and challenges, but you know what? Those 'lows' made the 'highs' much sweeter.
As I have taken time to reflect on the last 12 months, I'm finding myself more and more intolerant of those who can't wait for the New Year to arrive, as if their life won't get any better until then. In fact, if I see one more social media post about how 2024 sucked, I just might cancel my accounts! Just this morning I came across 3 different posts from individuals who say they will be glad to see 2024 behind them, while welcoming 2025. As if the turn of the calendar creates different circumstances. As I am wrapping up the most challenging year of my entire life, I am truly sad for those who think tearing off the last page of their 2024 calendar will make their life better.
As the calendar flips to a new year, it's easy to buy in to the “New Year, New You” mantra. It’s a concept that suggests radical personal transformation, often fueled by resolutions that promise a complete overhaul of ourselves, both personally and professionally. However, while the allure of a fresh start is appealing, the fixation on reinventing oneself can lead to a self-limiting mindset that hampers genuine growth. Instead of aiming for a complete overhaul come January 1, why not consider the idea of being better than you were yesterday? Or instead of whining about things out of your control, shift your focus on what you CAN do to make a difference.
I get it - the start of a new year often feels like a blank slate: a time to reflect on the past and envision the future. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as the "fresh start effect," plays a significant role in motivating us to take action on our goals and dreams. Rooted in behavioral science, the fresh start effect is the psychological boost we experience when temporal landmarks, such as the beginning of a new year, month, or week, help us mentally separate our past selves from our future potential. The fresh start effect is particularly potent at the start of the year and can serve as a catalyst for goal achievement and personal growth. While this sounds great, there are two problems with the fresh start effect...
- We tend to put off taking action waiting for that flip of the calendar
- Research shows that the majority of us abandon our New Year goals after an average of 20 days.
Why the 1st of January?
It’s natural to pick days that signify a new start so that it feels emotionally easier for you to begin. The downside to that approach is that if you fail before you’ve created a habit (running, writing, calling your mom — anything), you are more likely will wait until the next “significant” day comes to start over.
It’s not that bad when you are doing it with Mondays. You’ll get about 50 chances to try every year, which is pretty good.
If you prefer to stick to the calendar and start your endeavors every first day of the month, though, your chances decrease a lot — you only get 12 tries.
And, worse still, when you decide to start something new on the 1st of January, you’re putting extra pressure on yourself. Everyone will rush into committing to their New Year resolutions and social pressure will increase. This trend only creates more stress around the whole thing, which isn’t very helpful when it comes to enabling us to stick to our new habits.
There’s nothing different or special about the 1st of January besides the pretty sign that marks a new round of the calendar countdown, either. I’ve never heard anyone raving about starting to go to the gym on the 26th of February.
The New Year has become the symbol of new beginnings and a promise of change for the better. And yes, it does add a degree of glamour to the whole process of starting a new habit, but it doesn’t make any other day of the year less suitable when it comes to making positive changes in our lives.
Start Today!
When you choose to start today, you give yourself the gift of 365 opportunities to try. If today doesn’t go as planned, you can reset and try again tomorrow—no waiting for some distant starting line.
New Year’s resolutions often feel like monumental commitments: you’re either all in or all out. That pressure can make setbacks feel crushing. But by taking a small step today, you ease into new habits and routines, steadily building a foundation for success and greatly improving your chances of achieving your goals.
Change takes time, and results aren’t instant. By starting now, you not only give yourself a head start but also gain the satisfaction of seeing progress sooner. That early momentum can fuel your determination and keep you moving forward, turning ambition into lasting transformation.
Chances are you can take one small step - make that one phone call, pre-collect on just one patient, take the initiative to learn a new skill, have that hard conversation you've been putting off, lay out your gym clothes the night before... you get the idea. Ask yourself, What can I do today that my future self will thank me for?