Happy New year!

I am starting this year off with a new business, a new running coach certification, and a new marathon training plan all coinciding on the first of the year.

Why not start blogging too?

I personally love starting things on “fresh” dates. I understand the logic of the “just start, why does it have to be a Monday/first day of the new year/first day of the month” argument, but to that I say — totally fair, and also this might work for some people, too.

I’ve always been particular when it comes to tracking things, documenting things, creating things. I was so wasteful as a kid because if I made a mistake in my notes at school (and I always insisted on writing in pen), I couldn’t just scratch it out and correct the error on the same page. No, I needed to tear the page out, fully eliminating all traces of its existence (not even leaving behind the little scraps that get stuck in the spiral binding because that is evidence), and re-write the entire page in my very best handwriting, thus correcting the error. I can’t describe the rush I’d get when people would see my notes and compliment how neat they were, and I rarely disclosed that this was very much not a one-take effort.

I’ve relaxed a lot since then. Now my room is messy and my post-it notes are scribbled and I bought an iPad for the real notes and lists so that I can save the trees and correct my errors neatly and digitally. But yet — I still love arbitrary dates, fresh starts, and clean pages. I’ve been doing a lot of work on becoming more intrinsically motivated — what is inside of me that keeps me doing the things I’m doing? Why do I want to run? Why do I want to run a marathon? What actually gets me out the door and puts my shoes on?

And, while I work on that and try to build those voices and habits that keep me going and lend meaning to my actions, I do know what works for me externally. Externally, a training calendar that can be digested in full weeks (Monday through Sunday, of course, because I want that bonus weekend day to count for mileage) and that doesn’t have me logging 4.25 successful weeks of hitting my mileage goal because I started on a MONDAY, not a Saturday, is motivating to me.

So what am I saying? I’m saying if it makes you feel good about it, start that training plan on January 1st. Commit to starting your strength work on a Monday and use the days until then to plan and decide how you’ll set yourself up for success. And if it works for you, then forget all that and start now! But intrinsic motivation is something that you can learn and discover. You can be curious about yourself, you can practice good mental habits, you can find out what motivates you. And in the meantime, you can lean on what works for you now, what external factors are getting you out the door.

Not all arbitrary things are bad. Not all placebos need to be discouraged. This New Year, I want to encourage you to start being aware of what external factors hold weight for you, and start to consider: are they hurting you? Are they helping you? Let’s identify the things that serve us and start to be aware of the things that don’t so that we can make moves to fix it. And just because it’s arbitrary or silly or maybe a little irrational doesn’t mean it can’t serve you.