The gym near my house was packed on January 2nd.
I know because I drove past it on my way to get coffee. (I wasn’t going to the gym. I was getting coffee. Let’s be honest about where we all were on January 2nd.)
The parking lot was full. People were streaming in wearing brand-new workout gear, the tags probably still itching their necks.
I drove past again yesterday.
Half empty.
It happens every year. We roll into January with the energy of a golden retriever hearing the leash jingle. Two weeks later, the shine wears off.
Here we go again.
But here’s what I keep thinking about:
I don’t think we’re doomed to repeat this pattern.
I think we’re just using the wrong playbook.
The Willpower Trap
Most resolutions are built on a quiet assumption that willpower is the system. That this time will be different because we want it more. We’ll be more disciplined. We’ll push through resistance.
Meanwhile, at work? We do the exact same thing.
We run a campaign. It underperforms. We change the creative and run it again with the same underlying problem.
We stay busy. We stay hopeful. We learn nothing.
That’s not marketing. That’s wishful thinking.
And we know better.
Marketers Should Be Scientists
Marketers are supposed to be scientists. Not in lab coats—in the way we treat outcomes.
A real experiment starts with a hypothesis. You name what you expect to happen before you do the work. You identify the variables. You change one thing at a time. You measure what happened. Then you decide what to do next based on evidence, not vibes.
Our resolutions—and our campaigns—should work the same way.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Let’s say you want to go to the gym three times a week.
The experiment is not “be a better person.”
The experiment is: “What conditions make this possible?”
Because resistance and habit are the real disruptors here. Not motivation.
So the question isn’t “How do I stay excited?”
It’s “How do I lower friction and make this behavior easier to repeat?”
Four Things I Started Doing Differently
1. I write down what I actually think will happen.
Not what I hope. What I expect. By when. A testable outcome, not a dream.
2. I name the things that could quietly sabotage me.
Time of day. Location. Prep. Sleep. Schedule. The variables I usually ignore until they bite me.
3. I change one thing. Just one.
I don’t run the same experiment over and over and act surprised when nothing changes. If evening workouts failed last year because evenings got chaotic, I don’t make another evening workout plan and call it a fresh start.
4. I check in weekly. Not yearly.
I’m not grading myself. I’m learning what works.
This Is the Part Most Marketing Teams Skip
It takes just as much time to create an email that fails as one that succeeds.
The difference isn’t effort.
The difference is whether you learn fast enough to improve the next one.
The same is true with your habits.
So if your resolution already fell apart? Good. That’s data.
Treat it like a campaign that underperformed. Ask what broke. Change one variable. Run the next test.
That’s not failure. That’s how experiments work.
