Forget New Year’s Resolutions; Try Birthday Resolutions

Nobody likes working out on January 2. Or eating only salads. Or doing any sort of 180-degree change in our lifestyle. Period.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why should our goals be collectively tied to what is essentially a random day. Sure, it’s the first day of the Gregorian calendar, which was created by Pope Gregory XIII to correct the date of Easter, but we can all probably agree it doesn’t have much to do with you suddenly going to the gym every day. Maybe that’s why more than 40% of resolutions fail by January 31.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with making annual resolutions. It can be productive to check in with yourself, recognize which goals you’ve kept and which you haven’t and set new goals for the year ahead.

So do it. Make resolutions.

But why not make them on your birthday instead?

Think about it: At the start of the new year, you’re still probably frazzled from the holidays. Maybe you overdid the night before and the extreme guilt compels you make drastic promises for a better lifestyle. Perhaps your birthday is a more level-headed time to ponder change. We tend to have a state of the union about our lives every birthday, so it’s only natural to take stock of your accomplishments and establish new goals around this time.

Just imagine: You wake up. The sun’s streaming in. The room is peaceful. You feel grateful for being alive. In this space, you can work on your resolutions in peace. You can do this, because it’s your special day.

Yours. Not everyone else’s.

When you’re thinking about the year ahead, you’re thinking about your year ahead. You’ve just made another rotation around the sun, and you’re taking stock of your triumphs, your failures, your plans. Where you want to be when you have another candle on your cake, where you want to be when you hit your next decade.

Feels good, doesn’t it? A bit more special? More private? More … inspirational?

So this year: Skip the New Year’s hubbub. Wait it out. Enjoy yourself and just smile knowingly when someone asks you about your resolutions. Not because you don’t care. Because you’re waiting for your day. There’s plenty to do in the meantime. Work out more. Eat better. Help each other. You don’t need resolutions for that.

Unless your birthday happens to be on January 1, in which case, well, see you at the gym on January 2.