Did you know that New Year’s Resolution Week is actually a thing and takes place each year from January 1 until January 7? The first week of January is when optimism does cardio. Gyms are full. Planners are untouched. Everyone is definitely becoming a better person this time.

And then statistics do what they always do.

About 80% of New Year’s resolutions are abandoned by February. A solid chunk don’t even make it out of the first week. Not because people lack commitment but because resolutions are usually written as if the nervous system runs on espresso and good intentions.

It doesn’t.

The modern nervous system is already managing screens, speed, noise, stress, and twenty-seven open tabs—internally and externally. Adding a rigid goal on top of that doesn’t create growth. It creates resistance.

So the system quietly pulls the plug. Motivation disappears. People blame themselves. January gets a bad reputation.

But this isn’t a motivation problem. It’s a load-bearing problem.

Resolutions tend to demand immediate performance without upgrading capacity first. That’s like installing new software on an old device and being shocked when it freezes.

A nervous-system approach flips the script. Instead of asking, “How do I force myself to do this?” it asks, “What needs to expand so this doesn’t feel like a threat?”

That’s why the changes that survive look unimpressive at first glance: walking before running, consistency before intensity, progress without a meltdown.

This is also why my book When Your Wires Get Crossed exists. January has a talent for crossing wires—ambition on one line, capacity on another, and everyone wondering why nothing is working. The book helps untangle the signals so that change doesn’t short-circuit by mid-month.

Short poems. Small resets. Language that takes the foot off the gas without slamming the brakes.

Resolution Week doesn’t fail because people aim too high. It fails because no one gave their nervous system a user manual.

Turns out, capacity beats willpower every time.