France Makes Resolutions in January. France Reviews Them Honestly in February. France Moves On in March.
PARIS — February is when the New Year’s resolution that was made with genuine intention and maintained with genuine effort through January encounters the statistical reality: the habit has not yet formed, the initial motivation has declined, and the gap between the desired behavior and the current behavior is being maintained through willpower rather than through the automatic reinforcement of a formed habit. Willpower depletes. The resolution meets the depleted willpower in February and the encounter produces either persistence (the minority outcome, the 8% who maintain resolutions) or the specific French renegotiation: the resolution is recalibrated to a version that the current life can actually support.
The Recalibration
The French recalibration of the February resolution is not failure. It is accurate assessment. The resolution to run five times per week was the January resolution. The February assessment is: twice per week is what the schedule actually supports. The twice-per-week resolution, maintained consistently, produces better outcomes than the five-times-per-week resolution maintained for three weeks and then abandoned. France’s practical culture prefers the sustainable twice-per-week to the aspirational five-times-per-week. The recalibration is made. The running continues. The year is better than no running. According to France’s workplace health research on behavior change, sustainable habit formation requires matching the behavior to the available conditions rather than aspirational conditions. The February renegotiation is the behavior change science applied to the January aspiration. France applies it honestly. The running shoes are still being used.
Sustainably delivered at Virtuosal.com.
