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January 1 is symbolic, not magical. In this episode, we walk through nine decisions to make before January starts if you want change to actually stick. We cover why waiting for the calendar flip often backfires, how the “get it out of your system” mindset keeps patterns in place, and why planning for stress, fatigue, and social pressure matters more than motivation. Whether you’re considering Dry January, Dryish January, or just drinking differently in the new year, this episode shows how starting earlier can turn January into a real starting point instead of another reset.
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Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3
Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4
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ABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol moderation app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days.
Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.
--
Listen to Journey to the Sunnyside Podcast: https://bit.ly/4bxCqT3
Subscribe to Sunnyside’s YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/3zuoID4
CONNECT WITH SUNNYSIDE:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joinsunnyside/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joinsunnyside/
- Twitter: https://x.com/joinsunnyside
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joinsunnyside
ABOUT SUNNYSIDE: Sunnyside is the #1 alcohol moderation app that helps you drink less without any shame, guilt, or pressure to quit. Optimize your alcohol habits to achieve benefits like sleeping better, losing weight, feeling more energy, and saving money. We know that an all-or-nothing approach doesn’t work for everyone, so we focus on helping you set your own goals, celebrate small wins, and build a lasting system of accountability. As a result, 96.7% of our members see a big drop in their drinking after 90 days.
Disclaimer: This podcast is not intended as medical advice, and the views of the guests may not represent the views of Sunnyside. If you’re concerned about your health or alcohol use, please consider seeking advice from a doctor.
Creators and Guests
What is Journey to the Sunnyside?
Journey to the Sunnyside is a top 1% podcast, reaching over 500,000 listeners every week. It’s your guide to exploring mindful living with alcohol—whether you're cutting back, moderating, or thinking about quitting.
While Sunnyside helps you reduce your drinking, this podcast goes further, diving into topics like mindful drinking, sober curiosity, moderation, and full sobriety. Through real stories, expert insights, and science-backed strategies, we help you find what actually works for your journey.
Hosted by Mike Hardenbrook, a #1 best-selling author and neuroscience enthusiast, the show is dedicated to helping people transform their relationship with alcohol—without shame, judgment, or rigid rules.
This podcast is brought to you by Sunnyside, the leading platform for mindful drinking. Want to take the next step in your journey? Head over to sunnyside.co for a free 15-day trial.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in our episodes do not necessarily represent those of Sunnyside. We’re committed to sharing diverse perspectives on health and wellness. If you’re concerned about your drinking, please consult a medical professional. Sunnyside, this podcast, and its guests are not necessarily medical providers and the content is not medical advice. We do not endorse drinking in any amount.
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to one of these ten minute Mondays. And today, just a few days before 2020 '6, hard to believe, I wanna talk about something, and that is that January 1 gets treated like it's a reset button. But here's the thing, nothing actually resets. Your brain, yeah, it knows it's New Year's, but that doesn't actually change how habits work and why waiting for the calendar to flip over can quietly make January harder than it needs to be.
Speaker 1:And here's the thing. We're in this strange in between week right now. The holidays, they're almost over. January, however, isn't here yet, and there's a little bit more space for us to think clearly. But before I go further, one quick thing.
Speaker 1:Some of what I'm gonna talk about today may sound familiar to other episodes that you've listened to, and that is intentional. With habit change, repetition, it's not filler, it's not more noise, it's actually how principles stick in your mind, especially at moments like this. So if you're thinking about doing dry January or driest January or just drinking a little bit differently in the New Year, I want to walk through nine ideas that tend to make January easier and more workable. And here's why I wanted to talk about this now instead of in January. If you don't make a few decisions ahead of time, January is gonna make those decisions for you, and it usually does it in ways that you didn't intend.
Speaker 1:Now the flip side matters just as much. A few decisions made early don't just make January easier, they can actually turn it into a real starting point for something that actually is gonna carry you forward into 2026. So let's get into those nine ideas. Number one is January 1 is a symbol, not a switch. There is solid research that shows that people feel more motivated around specific dates.
Speaker 1:Could be the new year, could be a birthday, could be a milestone. Whatever it is, there's also something around that motivation and that is how quickly that motivation can fade. Behavior doesn't change just because of a date. You know, think of all the times that we've made those promises and then ended up breaking them. It changes when the environment and the plan can support it.
Speaker 1:So when everything hinges, say on January 1, December often becomes this before period. We all know this feeling, and January carries all this pressure. You know, this is going to start on the first. And a one off day can feel way bigger than it actually is. So here's my point is there are a few things that we can do to take that pressure off.
Speaker 1:We can start now. Now, it doesn't have to be that whole commitment, but you can start planning. You can maybe take one less drink. You can maybe decide right now you wanna actually get started. Whatever that is, it starts to remove the pressure of January itself.
Speaker 1:Now number two, I am definitely guilty of this one. The get it out of your system idea usually backfires. And this idea, it sounds reasonable. I know I've told myself many times that, hey, this makes sense. Enjoy now, reset later, get it out of my system.
Speaker 1:Now the problem is is that habits don't respond to that intention. They respond to repetition. And so when drinking ramps up right before a planned break in January, the brain, it still learns that same pattern that it's been in in December. So anticipation or stress might show up in your life, then drinks follow, then you get the relief that happens, and that association doesn't just disappear because the calendar changes. Now I know we only have a few days left, but pulling back slightly now instead of pushing harder towards the end of the year usually gonna make January easier to enter into and also easier to stay with your commitment.
Speaker 1:Number three is January works better as a test run, not a trial. So a lot of people treat January like this verdict. It either goes well or it doesn't. And I think people are starting to lighten up on that, but that framing it adds even more pressure and very quickly actually. And a more useful way to approach January is as a test run for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1:That means reducing drinking days instead of fixating on maybe your grand total. It means noticing which evenings might be the most difficult so that you can map them out for the rest of the year. It might mean adjusting earlier in the year instead of forcing this consistency that you just don't think that you could manage for the rest of the year. And this is gonna help you keep January active instead of, like, this fragile thing that if it falls apart, you know, it's a failure. Number four is the real goal isn't January, it's actually February.
Speaker 1:Now, January, it gets designed as this endurance challenge. But then February arrives with work, with travel, social plans, maybe that commitment that you were feeling on January 1 is starting to disappear, and behavior change research is clear on this. What matters isn't how strongly you start, it's what's sustainable, what holds together when life begins to return to normal. This is the pattern that I see every single year. People don't just struggle because January's hard.
Speaker 1:They struggle because they arrive in January maybe somewhat undecided. And when you're undecided, the lattice options usually win, which is I'm gonna give in to having a drink. I'm gonna break my commitment. And that's how you end up repeating the year. Maybe this was the year we're gonna change, but you repeated last year.
Speaker 1:And a more useful question here is simple. What do I want to feel like in February? And if you designed January to support that, then January was a win. It worked. Now let me pause here for a second.
Speaker 1:If you've tried January before and it didn't stick, this is usually why. You did decide, of course, but those decisions, they weren't protected. They were made at once, and then maybe later, they were renegotiated under stress, under fatigue. Maybe there were social pressures at play here. And what changes thing isn't more resolve this year.
Speaker 1:It's planning for the moments you already know are gonna come. You know, life happens. They're gonna come. You're gonna feel weak or maybe, you know, undecided. But instead, deciding ahead of time how you're gonna handle them, that is the game changer.
Speaker 1:So when those moments show up, you're already ready instead of negotiating with yourself on why you should break your resolve. And that's the difference between a month that actually changes something and a month that quietly reverts to old habits. Number five is deciding a few things now makes January easier. One of the biggest drivers of drinking isn't just cravings. It's actually decision fatigue.
Speaker 1:So by evening, usually around that time, also known as the witching hour, your brain is tired. It's fried. And brains, they default to familiar patterns. So starting now with decisions is gonna help you to lock in a few of those basics, whatever that plan is. Which days are gonna be automatic no drink days?
Speaker 1:What does one drink actually mean to you? And when to stop without negotiating with yourself. This is where listening turns into action. So decide one thing today. One boundary that removes a decision in January, one situation that you expect to come up, and how to handle it when it does.
Speaker 1:And just realize that if January starts without that, you're gonna be deciding in the moment instead, which is gonna make things much harder. Number six is dry and dryish are different tools, not different levels. A full break can bring clarity. A dryish approach can offer flexibility. Neither one is better.
Speaker 1:Neither one is superior. They answer different questions. And research on habit formation is consistent here. Rigid plans fail more often than adaptable ones. And that doesn't mean it's vague.
Speaker 1:It means that it's realistic. We want consistency because consistency always is gonna beat intensity. Number seven is going off course doesn't undo progress, and this matters especially in January. Habit research shows that a single deviation has little effect on long term habit formation. So what causes people to disengage isn't the slip itself, it's how they interpret it and how they rebound from it.
Speaker 1:So head into January and know that it's gonna work out better for you when adjustments are expected instead of treated like failures. Number eight, starting now builds momentum. Small ships create momentum faster than big promises, and that might look like adding one alcohol free day this week. It might mean stopping earlier than you usually would or planned on. It might be practicing how you handle familiar situations.
Speaker 1:And those experiences are matter because they set you up for January where it feels familiar instead of intimidating. And then number nine, January is easier when it's designed, not declared. And this is a little bit of a mix of some of these other ones, but declarations, they rely on emotion. Design relies on structure. The strongest January plans are gonna assume that friction will show up and account for it in advance, and that holds to whether your goal is dry, dryish, or just simply more intentional drinking in January.
Speaker 1:Okay. Those are the nine ideas for success heading into January 2026. I can hardly believe it. By the way, happy New Year to all of you. And if you want some more help planning January, which is integral to success and fits with your real life, Sunnyside, of course, has a January challenge that supports planning and tracking without pressure.
Speaker 1:You can go to sunnyside.cobackslashjanuary to go check that out. I urge you to do it. Thanks for hanging out with me today. And until then, cheers to your mindful drinking journey.