As I logged into the Twit-0-sphere today, I noticed everyone’s already a-flurry about their New Year’s resolutions. Statistically speaking, the majority of you won’t keep your resolutions for more than two months. And so, I am here to help. May I propose the February 1st Resolution Plan.
Tonight while I was showering (which is where I do my best inventive brainstorming), I realized that those who start out last in the game will come out finishing, well…finishing. The execution is simple- start your resolutions on February 1st instead of January 1st. I’ll bet that you’ll hold true to your said resolves much longer than those 01/01 starters. Why? Because:
1. Not everybody’s doing it.
As stated above, everyone is buzzing about it. And naturally, as humans, when everyone else is doing it, we tend to latch on and follow suit. This is dangerous, however, because you may not be creating resolutions out of a deep desire to change or alter a part of your life, but rather to keep up with post Christmas dinner conversations.
2. The honeymoon is over.
That New Years fever has died down and people are back into their everyday grinds. You will have a clearer head when sorting out the changes you really want to make in your life. Retail’s full price, weather’s crappy, and you’re already thinking about the lonely Valentine’s Day looming in your near future. But hey, at least you won’t have to wait 20 minutes for a free treadmill at the gym.
3. You’ve actually recovered from the holidays.
Let’s be real. Holiday’s don’t really end before January is over. This year, NYE lands on a Thursday which means you’re going to be partying for four days straight. You’ll drag yourself to work the following week trying to catch up, but inevitably fail. (I’m actually anxious to see how businesses will run that week.) So what do you want to do the second weekend of January? Sleep. And you will. But then you’ll go back to work the following week, all the while feeling as though you didn’t take advantage of the past weekend so you’ll party hard the third weekend and go back to work for another week. Now, by the time weekend number four comes along, some of you may be ready to start your resolutions, but you’ll need that weekend to plan out what they’re going to be. (Obviously they weren’t done earlier because you wait ’til the last minute for everything.)
This leaves you with a February 1st start date. An unglamorous, un-fun and unconventional way to start your belated New Year’s out right.