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Why I Set New Year Intentions in February

January is too early.

Hilda Carroll
Change Becomes You
3 min readDec 30, 2021

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It seems counter-intuitive, I know. The first of January comes with all the ‘new year, new you’ hype and it’s easy to get carried along with the tide of that energy.

But within a week 25% of people have given up, and by the end of the month, only 64% are still sticking by their new year resolutions. Six months into the year, that figure has further declined and only 46% of us are still sticking with them.

If you tend to be one of those who quickly loses commitment then you can see you’re in plentiful company. And maybe it could serve you well to consider a different approach.

I strongly suggest waiting out January and making new year intentions just as February kicks in when we can feel ourselves beginning to pull out of the depths of winter.

Timing matters.

Setting new year intentions and resolutions early in January can be somewhat self-defeating because we have to dig quite deep to get ourselves into motion. We have to rely on willpower rather than a natural spark of energy. And willpower is a battery that can run down very quickly.

If instead, we spend the month of January playing around with ideas about what we could do (not must, or should) in the coming year and wait…

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Change Becomes You
Change Becomes You

Published in Change Becomes You

Life advice that will (actually) change your life. Curated stories from The Good Men Project.

Hilda Carroll
Hilda Carroll

Written by Hilda Carroll

Hilda Carroll is a writer, meditation teacher and interior designer who helps people create sanctuary in their homes and lives. www.hildacarroll.com

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