A Special Day to Not Celebrate: Quitters Day + 5 Tips to Stick With It!

A Special Day to Not Celebrate: Quitters Day… Don’t Quit! Written by the Princess and edited by the Elf. January 12th, 2019. (Updated September 2020) Our blog uses affiliate links and advertisements at no extra charge to you.

What is Quitters Day? Don’t Quit!

January 12th, now known as Quitters Day, is apparently the day when most people quit their New Year’s Resolutions! (And it makes sense- Girl Scout Cookies are here!!!) Research conducted by Strava, a social network for athletes, has discovered that January 12 is the fateful day when goals become overwhelming and motivation fails. By analyzing over 31.5 million global January activities -wow-, Strava was able to pinpoint the 12th day after you start something new as “Quitters’ Day”. We want to help you be able to celebrate getting through this day and month with your goals in tact. With that in mind- here are 5 tips to help you continue to pursue your goals!

Don’t Quit! Here are 5 Tips…

Tip 1. Look back at the progress you have made! (And ahead to the end result!)

• If you have made progress in your resolutions, look back and be proud of yourself! Every little step, every little victory, matters!! This can easily help motivate you to continue to push yourself by seeing that progress has been made. Make a chart on the wall if you need to.
• If you feel like you have not made progress, you can look back at the goals you set out and remember the end goal, the change you want to make! And take one tiny step towards that goal today- now that’s a reason to celebrate!
• Don’t lose hope or sight of that dream or beat yourself up for the occasional slip up! Let today be your new starting point rather than your stopping point!

Tip 2. Make a pros and cons list and track yourself

• Make a list of all the pros of quitting, now make a list of the cons. Usually when you stop and REALLY think about the choice of quitting, you can talk yourself into not!
• Keep the end goal in sight! You can even do this literally- put up a new positive mantra on your fridge, or of the new tennis shoes you’ll get to buy after you make it through your marathon, or the new book you can buy after you finish writing yours! The possibilities are endless- but keeping something in sight will make it easier to say “no” to the little pitfalls and “yes” to those small steps forward.
• Track your progress- it won’t be perfect, but it is motivational to see how many little steps you have taken! Our brain often inflates our failures- so writing everything out forces you to see how much success you’ve had.

PS- Have you tried a full year wall calendar? Great for tracking your progress, just tried one for my business this year and it’s been wonderful for positive encouragement.

Tip 3. LOOK OUT!

• When you set a new goal sometimes you do it with rose colored glasses on. It’s easy to look at what’s at the end of the road without seeing the nails and thumbtacks along the way.
• Isolate possible pitfalls and figure out how to navigate around them. And if you do fall, get right back up- you can do it! Say that positive mantra again.
• Make lemonade out of the lemons: Let’s say your goal is eating healthy but you also love girl scout cookies…Our family has such a hard time saying no to those amazingly adorable faces, and if you are like me and just cant say no, go ahead and buy some and stick them in the freezer! If you can’t eat them slowly- give them away. Monday morning you can always go into work and give them to a friend or coworker! It is a win win situation. The girl scout makes a sale, you help out the girl scouts, keep your new year’s resolution, and you make a coworkers day better!

Tip 4. Find a Buddy

• Post on facebook, text your friends, call a family member, but find someone else who is tempted into quitting and hold each other accountable! Don’t let each other quit! There are even online communities where you can just tell other people who are total strangers about your progress, whether that is walking for 5 minutes or running 5 miles! It is so nice to share your progress and failures with a supportive friend or group!
• Be there for your friends. Text them whenever you think about it! Don’t doubt yourself- they may be struggling too! Reaching out is so much better than not sending that message- promise!

Tip 5. Make a new plan of attack

• If you are wanting to quit, or already have, plan out how to move forward with your goals. Sit down and write out all the baby steps you need to take to get there and achieve that goal. When you are writing this out, don’t forget to include rewards for yourself along the way!
  • If your goal is to run a 5k, reward yourself when you finally run a mile, and then 2, and when you finish running your first 5k!
  • If your goal is to quit a habit, reward yourself when you make it 30 minutes, or 2 hours or 10 days, then 30, and then 45! Whatever helps you get there!
• If your goals too big- cut it down to size! Conquering that chunk is better than not conquering anything.
• Is it FUN?! Make sure there is some part of your goal that’s fun. IF it’s walking, walk in a mall, if it’s writing- write with the floating glitter pen- etc… It is easier to take those small, important steps forward when there’s an energy burst of fun somewhere in there.

You’re Worth It

PS- If no ones told you today, let me- you are loved and you are worthy of the work! Internalize some promises about what God says about you as a beloved child. There are plans already put together about this topic on the Youversion Bible App if you need a place to start. You’ve gotten through so much!! You are worth the effort- keep that promise to yourself! Know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made! 

It would be easy to quit today- to drop your resolution just as fast as the ball drops on New Years Eve. But it might also be easier to keep going than you think. Take the next step forward! Let’s make it another day, lets keep going until February, then March, and before you know it- new habits.

What to Check Out Next

We highly suggest these motivational reads to help you reach your goals:
–Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done by Jon Acuff
–The Art of Setting SMART Goals by Anisa Marku
–Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis
–Straight Up: Honest, Unfiltered As-Real-As-I-Can-Put-It Advice for Life’s Biggest Challenges by Trent Shelton (Check out our review HERE!)
–Get Out of Your Own Way: A Skeptics Guide to Growth and Fulfillment by Dave Hollis
– Awesome stuff to help keep your goals visual.

You can check out how we break our goals up into smaller sections every couple of months here. And you can find me yelling “GOALLLLLLLLL” and doing a family-embarrassing victory dance tonight after I make it through the day without quitting. Because that is something to celebrate!!

What are you celebrating today??

*If you liked this blog you might like our posts on:
– Girl-Wash Your Face, Stop Apologizing and Rise Up blog
– Brene Brown’s Call to Courage Netflix Special
– Even Mother Theresa Struggles with Impostor Syndrome.

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