The first day of the calendar year might not be the best first day for you to start something fresh and new. It depends on a variety of factors, most notably how the rest of your calendar takes shape.
Keep in mind that January 1 isn’t the first day of the year for a lot of people around the world. The most common example would be Chinese New Year. It can fall anytime between late January and late February in a given calendar year. Dig a little deeper into the internet and you’ll find many other examples of places and cultures where January 1 is observed as just a “regular” day of the year.
Maybe you’ve got kids.Wouldn’t lining up your year to match up with their school year make more sense? It’s how I’ve started my year for some time now and it works great as my best first day of the year. Maybe the first day of school for your kids should be your first day of the year too. After all, it’s their first day of the year…right? (By the way, I’m not alone in this. Gretchen Rubin does the same thing.)
What about your birthday? Since you began life on that day wouldn’t it be wise for you to mark that day as the start of a new year for you every year? Every year on my birthday I do something that comes close to making it my best first day of the year. Perhaps your birthday – depending on what day of the year it is – makes sense as your best first day of your year.
Just because a calendar or paper planner puts January 1 at the start of the year doesn’t mean it has to be the start of your year. It’s your calendar. It’s your planner. You decide when your year starts, not those tools.
Making that decision and owning it will put you one step closer to making your year work for you…no matter what its first day is.
