It's Quitter's Day. Keep Going.
I've been fascinated by the concept of "Quitter's Day." Mostly because I'd never heard of it until this year, but anecdotally, I can totally relate to how the day got its name.
I think the part of me that relates to it all too well is a bit bummed to realize the day was only two Fridays into January, though I'm quite certain I've quit many a resolution by this point.
I enjoyed David Epstein's post about it in his wonderful newsletter, Range Widely.
There, he has a conversation about goals and goal-setting and stick-to-it-ness with economist and journalist Tim Harford.
David Epstein
I especially like one small part of the chat where Epstein draws a connection between goal-setting and research he'd done on the rhetorical strategies of Martin Luther King, Jr.
DE: He uses a lot of concepts and analogies repeatedly, with slight variations, and one that comes up is Odysseus versus Orpheus. Odysseus lashed himself to the ship's mast to avoid giving in to the song of the sirens. Whereas Orpheus, in one myth, used his beautiful music to drown out the sirens' song instead of restraining himself. And in another myth, during his journey to the underworld to retrieve his love, he used his music to charm Hades. So King would talk about not aiming for the absence of hate, but rather working for the presence of love. And I think that's just a very interesting concept in general, of not just getting rid of a thing you don't like or restraining yourself, but replacing it with something or promoting something that's better or more attractive.
It's a beautiful strategy when applied to King's rhetoric, but a really valuable mindset to carry into New Year's resolutions as well: Simply saying "I want less of the bad stuff" isn't nearly as powerful as saying "I want more of the good stuff."