By the time February hits campus, New Year’s resolutions start to fade – the planner you swore to use every day has empty pages, your bed is unmade, and the promise of daily gym excursions died somewhere between syllabus week and the first problem set. If you’ve already decided your resolution seems to have vanished, you’re not alone. According to Medium, 43% of people abandon their resolutions by February. But that’s the exact reason why February matters more than January ever did.
January invites optimism: new calendars, fresh notebooks, and the sense that a change in date can spark a change in habits. By February, that optimism is tested. The semester is fully underway, academic pressure has intensified, and motivation must compete with midterms, fatigue, and everyday responsibilities. If January is about setting intentions, February is about sustaining them.
There is an uncomfortable truth we don’t like to admit: a resolution that’s hard to keep isn’t a failed resolution – it’s a real one. Goals tend to fall apart not because of a lack of discipline, but because they are set under idealized assumptions that time will be abundant, energy will be consistent, and stress will remain manageable. However, it’s hard to predict future environments until you are in them.
Keeping a resolution does not require preserving it exactly as imagined in January, and there is no rule against adjusting expectations. What feels difficult now is often the stage where effort begins to turn into habit. In February, the excitement you felt from the novelty of your resolution gives way to repetition, which is often slower and far less satisfying, leading people to lose their consistency.
Yet, adjusting expectations is not a failure but a method of persistence. A resolution that adapts to academic pressure and daily realities is more likely to last than one that depends on ideal conditions. What feels difficult now is often the stage where effort begins to turn into habit.
As we enter February, don’t abandon whatever your New Year’s resolution may be, but don’t hold yourself to unrealistic standards either. What matters is that you are forming a habit. Progress is not measured by perfection, but by persistence, and each small effort reinforces the routine you are trying to build. Over time, those repeated actions become second nature, and the change you’re working toward becomes part of your everyday life.