It's January, and it is time for us to put into action all the promises we made to change our behavior in 2021. Even though we have known long before the new year what we needed to change, we gave ourselves permission to continue these “bad” habits until now. Logic would say that if you're going to change a habit or behavior, any time is an excellent time to start. However, year after year, we pick arbitrary times like Mondays or the quintessential day of January 1 to begin. Why?

Most of us set goals or resolutions for the upcoming year. And with the disruption to our lives prompted by the pandemic, many of us probably have an extra-long list of things we would like to change. Even though most of us have not been successful in previous years’ resolutions, each year we are confident that this year will be different. Here are some ideas to improve your chances of success this year.

How are you feeling about those goals you set in January? Are you finding that you’re constantly faced with decisions about “want” and “should”? Is behavior change based on the strength of your willpower or are there better strategies that lead to success?

No matter how resolved we are at the beginning of the year, it’s highly likely that we’ll give up on our resolutions in just a few weeks. And, there’s a lot of science behind the reasons why. Before you throw up your hands and give up, let’s take a look at a proven approach to behavior change.