Okay, do not call me a quitter! I don’t think you want to be called a quitter, either! I don’t think I know anybody who wants to be called a quitter, right? Except research has predicted that based on lack of activity, January 19th is Quitter’s Day. I’m going to make sure I am doing some kind of activity on January 19th, because I don’t want to be classified in that group, as a part of Quitter’s Day.
So there’s still anywhere from 25 to 50% of Americans at least, who still make New Year’s resolutions. And it’s predicted that by January 19th, they will have literally thrown it out the window; completely stopped working towards them. Less than 21 days? I mean, my goodness! And I’ve made New Year’s resolutions in the past, maybe you do too.
Now, I no longer work from New Year’s resolutions. You probably know that I prefer small, actionable steps versus giant leaps.
And New Year’s resolutions tend to be kind of this giant leap process, right? This thought. So how do we avoid Quitter’s Day? Let’s get out of that classification. I really encourage you that if you do want to create some change in your life, it’s about taking small steps. So if you want to build in a new habit, it’s pretty much unrealistic to think that you could just do it in a fell swoop, right?
I mean, if you’ve had the same habit for 30 years, why would you think that starting January 1st, that habit that you had for three decades could just be completely wiped out of your routine? I mean, it’s almost insane to believe that, right? It’s almost insane! I’m not saying that people haven’t done it or can’t do it – it’s just, the likelihood is really, really low.
So let’s use the odds in our favor and start with something small. I love to use exercise as an example. If you want to incorporate exercise into your life, you think, okay, in 2022, I want to start exercising. Well, instead of just trying to do it every single day, and you’ve been doing it zero days before, just give yourself some sort of goal every week. So maybe it’s two days per week is your goal.
Here’s the other secret, the other tip I’m going to give you. Don’t make it that it has to be the same two days every week, because if you are like me, my weeks don’t look the same. I can’t necessarily say that every Monday and Wednesday I can exercise, or every Monday and Wednesday from 7:00 AM to 7:30 AM, I can exercise. That’s a bit unrealistic.
But you can set a goal to say two days this week, and then you look ahead at your calendar and you find the two spots for that particular week where exercise would work. Same thing with any sort of new routine; just set some small goals, take a look at the week ahead, and find where you can fit those in for that week.
You’re more likely to stick to this as it’s smaller, a little bit more manageable, and it’s customized to meet your specific needs, instead of trying to be so rigorous and hold yourself to something that you already know isn’t reasonable, it’s almost unattainable.
So let’s rally together January 19th! No matter what your small step is, what you’re thinking, let’s make sure we’re all engaged in an activity on January 19th. Avoid Quitter’s Day, take small steps to reach your big goals, and transformation will happen!