Why I Set New Year Intentions in February

January is too early.

It seems counter-intuitive, I know. The first of January comes with all the ‘new year, new you’ hype and it’s easy to get carried along with the tide of that energy.

But within a week 25% of people have given up, and by the end of the month, only 64% are still sticking by their new year resolutions. Six months into the year, that figure has further declined and only 46% of us are still sticking with them.

If you tend to be one of those who quickly loses commitment then you can see you’re in plentiful company. And maybe it could serve you well to consider a different approach.

I strongly suggest waiting out January and making new year intentions just as February kicks in when we can feel ourselves beginning to pull out of the depths of winter.

Setting new year intentions and resolutions early in January can be somewhat self-defeating because we have to dig quite deep to get ourselves into motion. We have to rely on willpower rather than a natural spark of energy. And willpower is a battery that can run down very quickly.

If instead, we spend the month of January playing around with ideas about what we could do (not must, or should) in the coming year and wait just a few weeks before we commit ourselves to action, we might see different results.

And the energy that starts to emerge in February can be much more helpful to make changes.

First of all, the Chinese new year falls in February — so we still have that “new year” energy lingering in the air. And in 2022 it falls on February 1st.

The weather may often still be cold and wintry in February, but as we move into, and through the month, we start to feel a spring in our step. Like all of nature’s creations, our bodies adapt and attune to the natural rhythms. Slowly we become ready to come out of hibernation. This is a much better time to…

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