Bloom Baby, Bloom! Why Spring Goals Stick

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? If you’re like many people, you’re looking around the room right now, unsure of where they went. 

You’re not alone! Research from Ohio State University shows that 23% of individuals abandon their resolutions by the end of the first week and 43% by the end of January.)*

There are many reasons resolutions don’t make it past January, and there is a solution! 

Reason 1: You weren’t set up for success

Common pitfalls with goal-setting include but are not limited to:

1. There is a lack of infrastructure to ensure your goal will be doable. For example, you might decide to walk every day but did not arrange child care or remove something from your calendar to make the time.

1. Your goal was too big. Saying you’ll drop 20 pounds in a month is just not healthy or likely to happen. When you don’t see immediate significant results, it’s demoralizing and easy to give up.

1. Your goal wasn’t specific enough. Saying you’re going to drink more water or read more doesn’t allow you to define what success is. It’s easy to let vague goals slide versus, “I’m going to read two pages a day.”

Read The New Habit Backup Plan for more ways to ensure your habits stick in the future.

Reason 2: You set goals at the wrong time of year

You know how in the winter you feel more tired and slow? We are seasonal beings. Even in areas where it doesn’t snow, during winter, we feel the pull to nestle under a blanket, sip on hot cocoa**, eat soup, sit by a fire, read, and sleep. Like animals, plants, and most earthly things, our bodies want to “hibernate” and slow down in winter months and re-emerge in full bloom and energy in spring. Many direct-to-consumer businesses will tell you that (outside of holiday shopping and travel), sales go down during winter months. Real estate sales slow down (the busiest home-selling months are May through August, accounting for approximately 40% of annual sales volume).

Why “New Year’s Day” should be the first day of spring

We humans did a funny thing when we invented the calendar. We disregarded nature’s seasonality and put “New Year’s” right in the middle of winter (or summer, depending on your hemisphere; either season is not ideal for successful goal setting and implementation). 

I’d like to argue that the New Year should be on the first day of spring. 

Here’s why:

People desire to (and are more naturally inclined) to make changes at transition moments. Think about the changes and new habits you’ve created when you’ve had a change of job, home, new furniture, relationship, etc. 

The changing of a year may feel like a transition, but it’s not a natural one. It’s normal to feel drawn to wanting to make a change at the year change—you can envision a new year being different from the last, and it’s helpful to have a marker to say, “On this day, I’ll start/stop/change…” But it’s a forced transition that mismatches what nature compels our bodies to do.

You can and should utilize transitions, even forced ones, to begin new habits. But as earthly beings, we have to take into account the seasons and how they might affect our ability to sustain our ambition toward a goal. 

Happy spring equinox

By all means, think about and set resolutions at the start of a calendar year (here’s a free excerpt from my book on making them stick). 

But my invitation to you is also to use the spring equinox to start/stop new habits. 

When you naturally emerge from winter, let yourself bloom. Use this natural flow to help with your momentum instead of pushing against the natural cycle and seasons. 

You want to be successful—I know you do! Use all your resources to support you and your goals. 

You are not a failure if you didn’t follow through on your winter-set goals/intentions/resolutions—it was just bad timing. 

More on successful Habits Creation:

• Every Day is New Year’s Day
• I Wish I Could Make a Habit Out Of ___