New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are among my favorite holidays, and have been for quite some time. In December, I genuinely get more excited for the upcoming New Year than I do for Christmas. Honestly, it’s safe to say that New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day combined are my favorite holiday. Despite the fact that many people around me just view it as another day. And as a highly ambitious woman, it should just be another day to me as well. Especially as someone who will always encourage you to start your New Year’s resolutions early, as someone who often does so myself. But honestly, it’s all about the energy of the New Year holiday for me.
And honestly, I start to feel the energy of the upcoming New Year in early Autumn. As far back as I can remember, I’d often start thinking about my New Year’s resolutions as early as October or November. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided that there was absolutely no reason that I had to wait until January 1st to start making my New Year’s resolutions happen early. Because honestly, why shouldn’t we be giving ourselves a head start on our resolutions going into the New Year? Certainly, we can thrive off the energy of the New Year on January 1st and celebrate it. But we don’t have to wait for any specific day to start resolving to evolve!
It Gives You Plenty Of Time For Proper Planning
Let’s be honest with ourselves for a second. It’s nearly impossible to plan major goals or properly prepare for a major lifestyle change in the last few days of December. Seldom are those last-minute New Year’s resolutions ever fully thought through or given much further thought. This is how we end up with generic New Year’s resolutions with no true direction, which get dropped by early February. If they even last to mid-January. I’m talking about the “work out more” and “wake up earlier” types of resolutions. The New Year’s resolutions set without a solid plan in mind that we might start, but quickly lose direction with. Or that we allow the arbitrary rules to allow for too much leniency.
I think you get what I’m saying here. Because certainly, a generic resolution without any specific goal in mind is not going to last long. Especially when it’s easy to say that waking up at 9:59 AM is technically earlier than 10:00 AM. Or that just doing 3 jumping jacks is exercising more than not exercising at all. Even though that’s clearly not what the intent of your New Year’s resolution was.
Seriously, give yourself time to sit down and come up with a real goal. And while you’re at it, plan for how you intend to go about reaching that goal. How many times a week do you wish to work out, what types of workouts do you want to do, and for how long? What time do you actually want to wake up, and what do you want your morning routine to look like? How do you intend to start that business or that podcast in the next year? Whatever your resolutions are, write them down. Get specific. Make them actionable. Come up with a plan and start.
It Allows You To Give Your Resolutions A “Trial Run”
We’ve all found ourselves getting excited when we’d stumble upon an intriguing lifestyle choice or hobby, only to discover it isn’t for us. Either that, or we’d get so excited off the energy of a New Year that we’d make New Year’s resolutions that we quickly end up not vibing with. Whether it be waking up at 4:00 AM or taking up a hobby we’d rather watch someone else do than attempt ourselves. Or maybe we find that we dislike the gym environment and remember why we do pilates at home. And you know what? That’s okay. And we shouldn’t force ourselves to do anything long-term that doesn’t serve us.
Not every lifestyle choice is going to serve us, no matter how well it works for someone else. We’re not going to find enjoyment in every hobby, even if we enjoy watching others do it on TikTok. We may also find that while we do enjoy a certain hobby, or that a lifestyle choice may strongly benefit us, we may have initially been a bit too ambitious with it. To give an example, I know that I enjoy reading, but reading more than one or two books a month is a bit too ambitious for me.
And the great thing about starting your New Year’s resolutions early? It’s like giving yourself a free trial of your resolutions before the commitment of January 1st rolls around. It allows you to drop what wasn’t working for you or that you weren’t vibing with, guilt-free. Or, perhaps, you can adjust your “subscription” to your New Year’s resolutions to work better for you. Because we don’t always need the complete package. Or maybe we discover that we want more from them!
It Allows You To Make Adjustments To Your Resolutions
When we’re setting our New Year’s resolutions, or setting any goal for that matter, sometimes we may find that we’re a little too ambitious with them. Or that maybe some elements of the lifestyle choice we wish to implement benefit us, but we need to approach them differently. For example, we may love how we feel waking up earlier in the morning, but find that 5:00 AM is just a bit too early to wake up. Or we may enjoy creating content, but realize that posting long-form content three times a week conflicts with our other hobbies and obligations. Or we might love how we feel after a workout, but we prefer going at our own pace at home. Rather than having to keep up with a fitness class.
When you start your New Year’s resolutions early, it gives you plenty of time for trial and error. It allows you plenty of time to notice what is adding value to your life, but could use some editing and modifying. Starting early takes the pressure off of sticking to any one plan, and allows for experimentation. Perhaps you could try a variety of different workout routines and see which ones you gravitate towards. Or you could try various morning and evening routines and see which ones work best for you.
Honestly, you can experiment with anything and everything to do with your New Year’s resolutions. And the sooner you start, the more options you can tinker with before January 1st. Heck, you may even find that your original plan wasn’t quite ambitious enough. Especially when you find yourself already excelling and smashing your goals in the warm-up period before January 1st.
It Allows You To “Ease In” To Bigger Lifestyle Changes
Far too many of us are guilty of setting ambitious New Year’s resolutions and trying to go from zero to one hundred instantaneously. I know that I’ve certainly been guilty of attempting a major lifestyle shift in a day. Especially on New Year’s Day. Certainly, I’ll find myself feeling unstoppable in the first few days, or even weeks, of January. When I’m running off the excitement for the New Year. But as the excitement begins to wear off, burnout begins to settle in. Especially when you’ve made such an abrupt change to your lifestyle that this new lifestyle feels foreign to you.
And while it’s possible to change your lifestyle overnight, it’s often not sustainable. Especially when you’re making such a dramatic change to your lifestyle. Because honestly, sometimes you need to take those baby steps to adjust. After all, it would be quite a shock to your circadian rhythm to go from waking up at noon to waking up at 7:00 AM. Or to start working out for an hour every day when you’re used to scoffing at the very idea of exercise. Heck, even becoming a consistent hobby girl can be difficult when you’re so used to doomscrolling being your primary hobby. Let’s be honest. Practically every ambition requires a bit of easing in to avoid the eventual crash.
That said, giving yourself an early start to your New Year’s resolutions gives you more time to gradually ease into them. Perhaps, by setting smaller weekly goals that bring you closer to them, little by little. That way, you can be where you want to be on January 1st, without setting yourself up for burnout. And so they slowly become a natural part of your lifestyle, without a dramatic change overnight.
It Challenges You To Find Balance Through The Holidays
Many people wouldn’t dare to start their New Year’s resolutions in the “ber” months because of the holidays. As if they can’t enjoy their Autumnal treats, Halloween candy, and Christmas cookies just because they’re striving to live a healthier lifestyle. Or that they have to entirely miss out on the sales that tend to occur close to the holidays because they’re looking to start saving more money. Or any other idea that makes them feel they can’t enjoy the Fall and Winter holiday season. Just because they’re implementing any healthy or beneficial lifestyle change in a season where most people just let loose.
And you know what? Starting your New Year’s resolutions through what may be the most challenging season to do so is a great idea, because it’s a challenge. And on top of that, it challenges you to find balance in your resolutions and find reasonable exceptions. So that you don’t feel as though you’re missing out. Because honestly, we should all be allowing ourselves some indulgences every now and then anyway. Especially as allowing yourself some indulgences is a part of a sustainably healthy lifestyle.
So enjoy those Autumnal and holiday treats, my lovely! Just don’t eat so many that you give yourself an upset stomach on Halloween night. Get yourself something nice, and splurge on some gifts for your friends and family in that holiday sale. Just don’t drain your entire bank account on impulse purchases. Enjoy a few holiday movie nights. Just don’t make every evening a night spent entirely on the couch in front of the TV. This a a great time to challenge yourself to find balance, and make your New Year’s resolutions work with real life.
Why Wait To Start On Something You Truly Want To Do?
Seldom is there a legitimate or sincerely compelling reason that we have to wait until January 1st to start on our New Year’s resolutions. Even if we’re waiting for a 30-day challenge starting on January 1st to kick off the New Year, it doesn’t mean that we can’t prepare ourselves for it in the meantime. Perhaps, you can even go back and try a previous 30-day challenge to hype yourself up for the upcoming one. Or you could practice and gradually prepare yourself before January 1st arrives. Honestly, if you want to do something badly enough, why wait? There is no time like the present to give yourself a head start.
Honestly, there’s no one telling you that you can’t start your New Year’s resolutions today. Even if it’s a random October Tuesday at 7:45 PM. If you truly want to start on your New Year’s resolutions, just start them right now.
Building Momentum Going Into January 1st
Wouldn’t it feel great to already be multiple steps ahead of the game when everyone else is starting their New Year’s resolutions in January? When others are just starting their workout regimen, you’ve already made it a part of your routine. And you’ve already built up a bit of strength and stamina, and can do a bit more in your workout. Or when others are just setting up their blog, you’ve already got five posts up, and two podcasts uploaded. Perhaps you’ve also already built a bit of a following! Or as others are slowly building up their daily routine, you already have a solid foundation for your routine established. Whatever it is, you’re already ahead of the game.
You don’t need to go from zero to one hundred, because you’ve already slowly built momentum. You’re on day 30, or even on day 90, when everyone else is still at day 1. You’ve established your game plan, and understand that flexibility is essential in all that you wish to accomplish. Because you’ve already been at this for a few weeks, or even a few months. Certainly, you can use the energy of the New Year as a boost on your path, and ride the wave of your motivational boost. But you’re already unstoppable.
Especially given the fact that you started and kept going when most people wouldn’t even dare to begin.
Minimizing The Pressure Of Perfectionism
Full disclosure, I can be quite the perfectionist, sometimes to the point that it leads to “all or nothing” thinking. Which can be quite detrimental in terms of sticking to major lifestyle changes or tackling larger goals. And I’m not going to lie, as much as I love the energy of New Year’s Day and the motivation of January 1st, it’s a lot of pressure. In the past, I’ve felt the pressure to be perfect on my New Year’s resolutions quite heavily. And naturally, my plans didn’t account for the unpredictable nature of life. Or the fact that I’d have days where I couldn’t perfectly adhere to my goals. Consequently, I’d find myself getting quite rattled when things didn’t pan out as planned.
It’s easy to adhere to your New Year’s resolutions perfectly for a day or two. Especially when the excitement is there. But what about the days when you’re naturally not going to be as motivated? Such as in the later days of your luteal phase. Or when work was more chaotic than usual, and you’re feeling drained. Or those days that it’s not even a good idea to do an intense workout because you’re feeling ill, and your body could use the extra rest of sleeping most of the day. Which is not unlikely in January, considering it is cold and flu season.
And this isn’t even to mention goals that have factors that are primarily beyond our direct control. Such as gaining any number of followers over a set period of time.
Life happens, my lovely. None of your New Year’s resolutions are going to go 100% as planned. And starting before January 1st arrives helps to minimize that pressure of perfectionism that may come with New Year’s resolutions.
Making The Most Of What’s Left Of The Current Year
If you’re already thinking about your New Year’s resolutions in September or October, why would you wait until January to start them? Three to four months is quite a substantial amount of time to still make the most of what’s left of the current year. Heck, even the last month of the year isn’t something to be wasted. Especially given the fact that there is never going to be such a thing as the perfect year. So when you think logically about it, it’s quite baffling not to make the most of the remainder of the current year. So why not make those last few months meaningful? Why not use that time to start something amazing?
Personally, I’ve found that starting my New Year’s resolutions in September or October enables me to enjoy the end of the year even more. And considering that some of my favorite holidays and festivities take place in the last few months of the year, why would I choose to waste it? Especially when I could be living my best life and thriving through these festivities. Rather than waiting until January 1st to allow myself to live life to the fullest. Besides, wouldn’t it be amazing to start the next chapter of your story that much sooner? And at a point in the year that most people wouldn’t even think about starting a new chapter in their lives.
Conclusion
New Year’s Day is quite an exciting holiday. It represents a fresh start, and the motivational energy of the holiday is certainly quite inspiring. But when you’re a highly ambitious person, there is absolutely no reason why you have to wait for January 1st to get started on your New Year’s resolutions. Nor do you even have to wait for your next seasonal reset. Heck, you don’t even have to wait until Sunday or Monday. Or even for tomorrow, for that matter. If something is filling you with passion, you can get started on it right now.
Besides, it gives you more time to properly plan out your resolutions and turn them into actionable goals. While also allowing for some trial and error to see what works for you and what doesn’t. It gives you time to adjust your plans before New Year’s Day arrives. Whilst taking the pressure of perfectionism off of starting in January. Plus, it puts you far ahead of the game. That way, you’re more established in your new lifestyle come New Year’s Day. And you have a great foundation to build your goals upon. Seriously, there is no reason not to start your New Year’s resolutions early.
Do you have any New Year’s resolutions that you’re starting early? Do you even call them New Year’s resolutions? Are there any major goals or projects that you’ve already started working on with the intent of carrying them into the next year? I’d love to hear from you!
So true! It’s never too early to start, and a good idea to give yourself time to trial them out and tweek them accordingly.
I totally agree with your points on starting our new year’s resolutions As early As now. So practical!
I’m not a fan of making NY resolutions, but these are brilliant reasons to start thinking about your goals and resolutions as early as now x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
I totally get that New Year’s resolutions aren’t for everyone. Honestly, we should be looking to build our best lives year-round. 🙂
Thank you for reading, Lucy!