Quitters Friday and How to Conquer the “What the Hell Effect”

Today isn’t just any Friday, it’s Quitter’s Friday, the day when more people abandon their New Year's resolutions than any other day of the year. Only 18% of people report success with their resolutions by year-end, but what separates the successful few from everyone else isn't simply willpower.

This episode explores the psychology behind why resolutions fail so frequently and which research-backed methods actually work for building habits. You'll discover the "What the Hell Effect" and learn the pitfalls of all-or-nothing streak-style goals, where most reminder apps fall short, and the surprising role sleep plays in building lasting habits.

Whether you've already fallen off the wagon or you’ve maintained your resolution (for now), this episode arms you with tools to plot your own Quitter’s Comeback. Because day 9 of 365 is too soon to give up for good.

Links from the show!

Quitter's Day research data from Strava https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/a-study-of-800-million-activities-predicts-most-new-years-resolutions-will-be-abandoned-on-january-19-how-you-cancreate-new-habits-that-actually-stick.html

Herman & Mack’s milkshake study (What the Hell Effect) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1975.tb00727.x

How sleep affects habit formation https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10374463/

Reminders should help you remember your trigger, not act as the trigger itself https://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/71165330/Investigating_the_Impact_IWC_2019_Final.pdf

Schedule text messages from your Gmail (it seems some carriers have shut these down, your results may vary!) https://blog.boomerangapp.com/2011/06/schedule-text-messages-from-your-gmail/

Got to-dos? Get GQueues! gqueues.com

Boomerang for Gmail boomeranggmail.com

Boomerang for Outlook boomerangoutlook.com