Why We Embrace New Years Resolutions

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There’s a reason so many people wait until January 1st to make goals, resolutions, and intentions. There's just something about shedding the old year and ushering in the new one that makes us feel like "this time it will be different." We want to embrace the "new year, new you" concept. This is not a post about how just setting a goal, a resolution, or an intention without the structures underneath (values, supporting habits and systems) are doomed to fail. I always talk about that.

This post is about the science behind WHY we do it in the new year.

I recently heard a conversation with Dr. Katy Milkman. She talked about 7 strategies to help you reach your goals (it was a Mel Robbins podcast episode if you want to check it out. One of her strategies was called the “fresh start effect.” She goes on to explain that our brains love clean lines in time. A new year feels like a blank page—an opportunity to mentally separate who we were from who we’re becoming.

January gives us psychological permission to say: That was the old draft. This is a new one.

But here’s the part I love most (and the part we often forget): You don’t have to wait for a new year to turn the page.

Fresh starts aren’t rare. They’re everywhere—if we choose to see them that way. Sure, today is Saturday, January 17. It doesn't feel like it could be a fresh start, but Monday sure does!

A Monday can be a fresh page. A new month can be a chapter break. Your birthday can be a revision point. The day after a hard conversation. The morning after you realize something isn’t working anymore.

In life drafting, we don’t rip the whole book up when something feels off. We simply . . . turn the page.

When we label a moment as a fresh start, our brain loosens its grip on past missteps. The “I already blew it” narrative softens. Momentum becomes possible again.

Journal Prompts:

• If today were a fresh page, what would I choose to write differently—without erasing the chapters that came before?

• What am I ready to leave on the previous page—not because it failed, but because it no longer fits this draft of my life?

• What “fresh start moment” am I in right now (new week, new month, birthday, season, realization)? How do I want to consciously mark it?

• What’s one small intention I want to carry onto this next page—not a resolution, just a direction?

• Where have I been waiting for “January energy” when I could give myself permission to begin again today?

• If I treated my life like a working draft, what would I revise instead of judging?

• What does this next chapter need more of: structure, softness, courage, rest, play, or clarity?

Affirmations:

• I am allowed to begin again—without apology or explanation.

• Every page I turn gives me new options.

• I don’t need a new year to write a new draft.

• I am drafting a life that fits who I am becoming.

• I move forward one thoughtful page at a time.

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Office Hours:  There are no more office hours in January. This is for Editor's Circle Coaching Members as well as any Guided Revision Coaching Members who would like to touch base between scheduled coaching appointments. HERE is the link to schedule a 30-minute slot

The Weekly Draft: happens every Sunday evening at 7pm at this link. Come prepared to reflect on the past week and draft the upcoming week. It is meant to be a heads down, co-planning time, with me being available to share strategies and/or answer questions. Join me HERE

The Reflection Room: We will take a break from this until the new year, at which time we will switch to an evening session. The new day and time will be Tuesdays @ 7:30pm starting January 6.

Join me HERE