Where Do All the „Resolutioners” Go in February?

 

January promises a fresh start full of energy and determination – resolutions about healthy diet, regular exercise, and self-development seem to be within reach. During this time, gyms are bursting at the seams, and the phenomenon of "Resolutioners" is a popular topic of conversation. These are people whose determination usually evaporates before the first snow melts, if we get any snow at all. As February arrives, the initial enthusiasm often fades, and as we encounter only the regulars at the machines again, we ask ourselves: Where do all the "Resolutioners" go in February?

The answer does not necessarily lie in a lack of willpower or motivation, as people commonly assume, but rather in the fact that we simply run out of steam. While we were driven by the excitement of a new beginning in January, after a few weeks, natural fatigue sets in. For our brain, maintaining new habits is incredibly exhausting, and after a month of effort, it tends to switch back to "power-saving mode" – returning to what it has been doing for years. For the "Resolutioners," February is therefore the critical period that determines whether new habits will persist or if the brain will give up. To understand why this is the case, we must look at how long it actually takes to truly get used to something new.

Why are three weeks not enough?

In popular literature and especially on social media, you may have encountered the claim that it only takes 21 days to form a new habit. This assertion was first made by American plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz after he noticed that his patients needed approximately three weeks to adapt to changes in their appearance (Maltz, 1960). Today, however, Maltz's hypothesis has been taken out of context and is often misrepresented as a universal timeframe for acquiring any new skill. Such a myth can then become a source of immense frustration for many of us when, even after those 21 days, we still have to force ourselves to take each step.

The reality is somewhat different. British psychologist Phillippa Lally dedicated her academic career to studying the process of habit automation in real life. Her research team discovered that the average time required for a new activity to become automatic is, in fact, 66 days (Lally et al., 2010). Nevertheless, we cannot generalize this finding to everyone; it is necessary to look closer at the range of data from the study. While for some participants the journey to automating a habit took only 18 days, for others, the process stretched to as many as 254 days. The type of activity also plays a significant role. For instance, reaching the point of automaticity for exercise took, on average, one and a half times longer than for changes related to a new diet.

For the "Resolutioners," this carries a vital message: in February, you are approximately halfway to the average. Your brain has not yet had enough time to fully integrate the new routine, which is why you are still operating on a "manual override" that requires conscious planning and pushing past your limits.

Why does one failure not equal the end?

One of the greatest enemies of motivation is our own perfectionism. We often fall prey to the "all-or-nothing" cognitive bias – once we skip a morning run or break a diet, we tend to write off the entire effort as a failure. However, science offers a very reassuring message here.

The research led by psychologist Phillippa Lally (2010) focused not only on the duration of habit formation but also on the impact of so-called "omission errors" on the process. The results showed that if you occasionally miss a day of your new routine, it does not significantly disrupt the automation process. Lally argues that even though there may be a slight drop in motivation following a missed day, the habit curve returns to its original trajectory if we continue with the activity.

The key to success is therefore consistency, not perfection. Habits are formed by strengthening the association between a specific situation and an action. For your brain, it is far more important that you return to the activity the next day than the fact that you missed one. Perfectionism is dangerous in February precisely because it turns a minor slip-up into a total failure in our eyes.

Nevertheless, we must learn to distinguish between a single omission and a longer delay. While a one-day pause does not significantly disrupt the process of automaticity, the critical point appears to be a one-week horizon. For example, the study by Christopher J. Armitage (2005), which examined the maintenance of physical activity, warns that longer lapses (a week or more) have a significant negative impact on future perseverance and statistically predict the end of our efforts.

Therefore, view the beginning of the new year more as a marathon than a sprint. If you stumble once, it's no reason to return to the starting line. Simply return to your set routine at the earliest opportunity and allow your body to continue the learning process where it left off.

A strategy for everyone: The Power of Micro-Wins

If you are currently struggling with feelings of fatigue, demotivation, or reluctance, try changing your measure of success as the next step on the path to your dream routine. We often make the mistake of demanding a 100% performance from ourselves even on days when we feel exhausted. In the context of habit formation, maintaining the rhythm itself is much more valuable at this point than the intensity of the activity.

An effective method to help your motivation persist is the "micro-win" strategy. This consists of setting a "minimum version" of your habit for days with low energy. If your goal is an hour of exercise a day, but you feel too exhausted after a full day at work, settle for just ten minutes. From the perspective of long-term automaticity, it is crucial not to break the chain completely. Even those ten minutes are enough to strengthen the association between the situation and the action upon which the habit is built.

In conclusion, neither January nor February needs to be the month where your effort begins and ends. The journey to building healthy habits is long and cannot be rushed. Equally important, however, is to realize that we don’t have to build a brand-new routine every year. The pressure for constant self-improvement and a "new me" that surrounds us can be exhausting in itself, especially in February. If you are satisfied with how things are, then there is no need to change anything.

 

About the Author: Jana Felklová Jana is a first-year master’s student in the Theoretical and Research Psychology program at Charles University in Prague. She views her work at Unicare Medical Center as a valuable opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the field of psychology while pursuing her studies.

 

References:

Maltz, M. (1960). Psycho-Cybernetics–A New Way to Get More Living Out of Your Life. New York: Pocket Book Editions.

Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C. H., Potts, H. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European journal of social psychology, 40(6), 998–1009.

Armitage, C. J. (2005). Can the theory of planned behavior predict the maintenance of physical activity?. Health psychology, 24(3), 235.