It's January, and it is time for us to put into action all the promises we made to change our behavior in 2021. Even though we have known long before the new year what we needed to change, we gave ourselves permission to continue these “bad” habits until now. Logic would say that if you're going to change a habit or behavior, any time is an excellent time to start. However, year after year, we pick arbitrary times like Mondays or the quintessential day of January 1 to begin. Why?

After months of socially restricting our interactions, we are restless and long for the company of family and friends. Some of us are even showing signs of more serious psychological distress, such as depression and anxiety. And, during the holidays, we saw people choose to ignore the advice from experts and participate in family gatherings, often flying to see them while others complied and stayed at home. So, why do some people comply and others do not?

Most of us set goals or resolutions for the upcoming year. And with the disruption to our lives prompted by the pandemic, many of us probably have an extra-long list of things we would like to change. Even though most of us have not been successful in previous years’ resolutions, each year we are confident that this year will be different. Here are some ideas to improve your chances of success this year.

Very few of us would say that 2020 was a great year. And it might be hard to find something good about this last year. However, if we look at it through the lens of post-traumatic growth, we might discover that we have gained valuable lessons that will help us in the years to come.