When to start. How about now?

With the beginning of another year, announcements of resolutions are plenteous with many talking about things they are giving up to embrace the “new year, new me” mantra. Intentions to exercise have been renewed, thoughts of going back to school for another degree are proliferating, and there are enthusiastic discussions about new and exciting places to travel. Yet, for the first time ever, I’ve noticed a lot of pushback against New Year’s resolutions.

Many of my friends and followers have expressed, via social media, a shared opinion of resolutions: They are pointless, bound to be broken, and nobody wants to hear them. In recent weeks, this backlash against New Year’s resolutions became so apparent I had to ask myself why some people hate resolutions so much.

Unfortunately, my own track record reveals a plethora of good intentions and broken resolutions. Still, at the end of each year, I am thankful for the newfound wisdom I have gained from mistakes made the previous year, and I look forward to the fast-approaching new year.

The future you are dreaming of is right in front of you!

In attempting to understand why some are so against the changes that come with a new year while others, including me, look forward to each new year, I realized that what I’m actually looking forward to is a new beginning. The opportunity to forget what is behind me and focus wholly on tasks before me is, well, liberating. I enjoy the building excitement I feel as the current year winds down and the next one is on the horizon. I relish contemplating the endless possibilities that a new year holds. I delight in looking back over all the accomplishments, moments of clarity, and even disappointments I have experienced in the previous calendar year. So, I don’t understand why so many people have jumped on the bandwagon to oppose new beginnings.

As I thought more deeply about my own habits, with regard to new beginnings, I noticed a pattern that is probably not unique to me and my quirky ways: I only want to begin at the beginning. Any time I consider change, whether large or small, I want that change to occur at a time representative of a new beginning. For me, that’s typically the beginning of a new season, a new month or a new week. Whenever I want to do something new, I plan to begin the first of the month, or on Sunday, the first day of the week. To me, it just makes sense to let the old play out fully before beginning again at the beginning. In my mind, beginning in the middle of the week just doesn’t make sense, and I have spent many years convincing myself that, to begin anywhere else, other than at the beginning, just doesn’t feel right.

As a PhD student, I’ve allowed this disdain for starting in the middle to add to my list of reasons to procrastinate. Conversations I’ve had with myself go something like this: Yes, I know I need to begin writing the next chapter of my dissertation proposal, but I’ll wait until the beginning of next month to begin. … Sure, today is Wednesday and I don’t have much to do, but I’ll wait until Sunday to call that potential recruitment site. … It’s Friday, so let me end my week the way I want, and I’ll get to my schoolwork again bright and early Monday morning. Before replaying these conversations in my head, it hadn’t dawned on me that, while beginning only at the beginning is great if you have a 100 percent track record of following through, if you’re like me and you come up against a stumbling block every now and then, waiting for another “beginning” can result in loss of valuable time and momentum.

Many times after a fresh start or new beginning, an unforeseen event occurs, and we have to begin again. Instead of looking for the next universally recognized starting point—a new week, a new month, a new year—we should utilize the small fresh-start opportunities we have on a more regular basis. We don’t have to wait for the new year to make significant changes in our lives, because we are constantly given the opportunity to begin something new. If you are like me and you like to start everything at the beginning, start at the beginning of the next hour, or better yet, the beginning of the next minute. Every 60 seconds, there is a chance to begin again.

Do you have an idea for a new research project? Why wait until the beginning of the next month, quarter, or year to start? Why not start now? Have you been thinking about going back to school? Look into your options today! Why wait until the end of the summer or the beginning of the fall to research potential programs or begin working on the program application? Some programs have rolling admission dates, so don’t wait—get to it! While working on the unit, your patient, co-worker, or unit manager may say something to you that really gets under your skin. Begin again! Don’t spend the rest of the shift upset because of what happened in the past. (Yes, with each new minute, the prior minute is, technically, the past.) You can choose to begin again, and you can do it now.

My fresh outlook on new beginnings has helped me see how much time I have wasted waiting for opportunities to begin. Every day, hour, minute, and second provide adequate opportunities to begin. There will never be a perfect time to change bad habits or implement new and innovative ideas, so, instead of filing these thoughts in our mental Rolodexes as to-do items for another season, or worse, as potential resolutions for 2015, let’s do them now!

It’s never too early to begin. Don’t allow setbacks to knock you off the road to your dreams. Don’t waste precious time waiting for another opportunity to pick up where you left off. Let’s stop waiting around for new weeks, months, and years to celebrate new beginnings, and, instead, commit to seeing the possibilities that each second, each minute, each hour holds.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.