I’m skeptical of New Year’s resolutions, at least in the traditional way they are framed. The statistics are bleak; only 8% of people stick with their resolutions. I think a year is just too long.

Let’s consider the resolution to go to the gym 5 days a week. Things will be going well the first few days or weeks. But suppose your new gym rat friends let you know your plan is flawed. They suggest you should only train 4 days per week. What would this change mean for the resolution? Are you compromising if you cut back a day? Or let’s assume you have a minor injury, requiring a few weeks of rest. Is it game over now that you took some time off?

Whenever you start something new, you need to make many adjustments. A rigid plan made during the holidays probably isn’t going to hold up for the year. Your brain was likely in a planning fog anyways from too many cookies and bad holiday films.

As an alternative, let’s consider monthly resolutions. Basically these work just like New Year’s resolutions. Add a calendar reminder once a month to select some important goals. Work hard to stick with this plan for the next 4 weeks. When the new month arrives, it’s time to celebrate your success and think about what can be improved. You can either roll-over your same strategy into the new month or make adjustments from what you learned, or scrap it entirely and do something else.

I experimented with the monthly resolutions this month. As I write this I’m excited to conduct a post-mortem on the last month and incorporate the learnings into my January goals.