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Will You Quit on Quitters Day?
How to be one of the few who don’t quit
Many of us talk about setting New Year’s resolutions, and some follow through. I’ve seen significant swings in reports of the number of people setting and fulfilling their resolution. Whatever the case, the second Friday in January is known as Quitters Day. That’s the day many of us give up on our New Year’s resolution.
An example of Quitters Day playing out can be seen by going to any gym. At the beginning of January, gyms are packed. Getting in shape is one of the 3 top resolutions (along with losing weight and eating healthier). Within two weeks, the gym is no longer bursting at the seams. And by February, it’s entirely back to its pre-New Year level.
Why Start in the New Year?
Starting a new year allows for the “fresh start effect.” This is where people feel they are starting with a clean slate. And we can do it in mass.
Katy Milkman says the fresh start effect “… helps you to create psychological distance from past failures, allowing you to feel that any mistake was the ‘old you’ and that you’ll now do better.”
So we’re all hopeful and ready to create a new version of ourselves. Or at least a new facet of one aspect of ourselves. But then our resolutions start falling by the…
