Commitment Day

What the day is

Commitment Day is observed on January 1. It is the resolution-making day dressed in more serious language, and unusually for a novelty observance there is a solid body of research on whether any of it works.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

The first finding is that the date is not arbitrary or useless. People are measurably more likely to pursue a goal immediately after a temporal landmark, whether a new year, a birthday or a Monday, because the boundary separates a version of yourself that failed at something from the one about to attempt it again. Researchers call it the fresh start effect, and it shows up in gym attendance and goal-setting data every January. Starting on January 1 is a real advantage rather than a cliché.

The second finding concerns wording, and it is the practical one. A study following people through a year of resolutions found that goals framed as something to start doing succeeded substantially more often than goals framed as something to stop. Approach goals give you an action to perform. Avoidance goals give you only a thing to not do, which offers nothing to practice and makes every reminder a reminder of the temptation.

The third is the most replicated result in this area. Deciding in advance exactly when and where you will act, in the form of a plan specifying the situation and the response, raises follow-through considerably compared with intention alone. Most resolutions never get that far, which is why they evaporate around the middle of January.

The often-quoted claim that almost all resolutions fail is overstated. Better-designed follow-up studies find roughly half of people still consider themselves successful a year later.

How to take part

• Phrase it as something you will do rather than something you will quit.
• Write down when and where. A goal without a time attached is a wish.
• Pick one. Several simultaneous resolutions compete for the same limited attention.
• Decide now what you will do the first time you miss, since you will.
• Tell somebody who will actually ask you about it in March.