31.5 million people quit in January. Here's what the rest do
80% of people abandon their New Year's goals by mid-January. Strava analyzed 31.5 million workout logs and even named the day: Quitters' Day. Second Sunday of January.
Today is February 1st. Still going? (going on what, exactly)
I am. A month ago I posted 39 goals for the year and I'm still on track, not because I have exceptional willpower (I don't), but because I don't rely on willpower at all.
In The 12 Week Year, Brian Moran introduces the knowing-doing gap — the distance between "I know what I should do" and "I actually do it." Most people aren't short on ideas. They're short on execution. Same with me.
Part of the problem is that a year is too long a planning horizon. The brain can't maintain context for 365 days. January feels like infinite runway. By March the goals become background noise. You remember them in December when it's time to set new ones.
And yet, in business, 30-40% of annual revenue comes in the last 2 months. Year-end crunch. Deadline burns and people suddenly start executing. The book's core idea is stupidly simple: what if you created that urgency 4 times a year instead of once?
3 things from the book I actually use:
1/ Periodization: the year is 4 × 12 weeks
The point isn't to divide annual goals into quarters. It's to treat each quarter as its own complete year: vision, planning, execution, review. After 12 weeks: new year. Clean slate.
12 weeks is long enough to accomplish something meaningful and short enough that you can't convincingly tell yourself "later." There is no later. There's just these 12 weeks.
I apply this only to Tier-1 goals. Until I make real progress on what matters most, I don't stress about the rest.
2/ Weekly Scorecard: 85% execution rate
The primary metric isn't results. It's the percentage of planned actions you actually complete each week.
Results are lagging indicators. You can't control whether your bicep grows. You can control how many hours you train and how you eat. Focus on the leading indicators.
Each week I calculate: planned actions vs completed. Target is 85%. 3 consecutive weeks under 65% means either the goal is unrealistic or the approach is wrong. I usually track plan vs. actual by hours.
This eliminates self-deception. You can't say "but I really tried." There's a number. Numbers don't lie.
3/ Weekly Review: 20 minutes
The author calls this process control. Once a week: what I did, what the scorecard says, what's on deck.
Skip 2 weekly reviews and your quarterly goals die just as fast as annual ones. I know because I tested this in 2023.
Block the time in your calendar. Not "I'll do it when I have a free moment," you won't have a free moment. Recurring event, every week. Mine is Sunday morning.
As Moran puts it: "If you are not in control of your time, you are not in control of your results."
The hardest part of goal-setting isn't the goals. It's the tracking system. This is that system.
TL;DR
If January fell apart, February is the perfect reset. Not "starting over," but launching your first 12-week sprint. Pick 2-3 goals and schedule the weekly review.
P.S. The book is worth reading. Not rocket science, but a solid execution framework.
Stay tuned 🥷🥷🥷