Notes
These notes give the sources behind each chapter and say where the text goes beyond them. The book isn't medical advice. Where it mentions low mood, drinking or weight, it points to NHS pages and to a GP, and those pointers stand above anything else in it. The January in chapter 1, the running shoes, the form, the late meeting, the kitchen table and every person and week described are invented for illustration. No study is reported that wasn't read at least in summary, and where only a summary was read the notes say so. No person's forename is given unless the published record gives it.
Chapter 1. No sources. The exercise and the terms are the author's.
Chapter 2. No sources. The account of what the wish provides is the author's.
Chapter 3. Dai, Milkman and Riis, "The fresh start effect: temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior", Management Science 60, 2014, pages 2563 to 2582. Three archival field studies of Google searches, gym visits and goal commitments. Read in summary. The claim that the effect lives in starts and not in February is the author's reading of what was measured.
Chapter 4. Norcross, Mrykalo and Blagys, "Auld lang syne: success predictors, change processes, and self-reported outcomes of New Year's resolvers and nonresolvers", Journal of Clinical Psychology 58, 2002, pages 397 to 405. 159 resolvers and 123 non-resolvers, telephone follow-up over six months, self-reported outcomes. Oscarsson, Carlbring, Andersson and Rozental, "A large-scale experiment on New Year's resolutions: approach-oriented goals are more successful than avoidance-oriented goals", PLOS One 15, 2020. 1,066 participants randomised to three levels of support, one-year follow-up, self-reported, 58.9 percent success for approach goals against 47.1 percent for avoidance goals among responders. Both read in summary. The Swedish setting is from the authors' affiliations. The reading that the successful half were the half with something closer to a plan is the author's.
Chapter 5. Oettingen and Mayer, "The motivating function of thinking about the future: expectations versus fantasies", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83, 2002, pages 1198 to 1212. Four longitudinal studies, effort and performance measured weeks to two years later. Read in summary. The study is correlational and the causal reading is labelled as the authors' and the book's interpretation.
Chapter 6. Sheeran and Webb, "The intention-behavior gap", Social and Personality Psychology Compass 10, 2016, pages 503 to 518. Read in summary only, and no figures from it are given. Milne, Orbell and Sheeran, "Combining motivational and volitional interventions to promote exercise participation: protection motivation theory and implementation intentions", British Journal of Health Psychology 7, 2002, pages 163 to 184. 248 participants, three groups, two weeks. Read in summary. The train is the chapter's one analogy.
Chapter 7. No sources. The account of the good fortnight is the author's.
Chapter 8. Polivy and Herman, "If at first you don't succeed: false hopes of self-change", American Psychologist 57, 2002, pages 677 to 689. A review, drawing mostly on dieting. Read in summary. The application to resolutions in general is the author's.
Chapter 9. Locke and Latham, "Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: a 35-year odyssey", American Psychologist 57, 2002, pages 705 to 717. Read in summary. The distinction between a target for a known task and a wish is the author's reading, not the authors'. The remark about the side effects of over-prescribing goals refers to a 2009 paper by Ordóñez, Schweitzer, Galinsky and Bazerman, "Goals gone wild", of which only the title and authors were verified, so no finding from it is reported. The book on daily weighing is The scale is a poor judge, in this series.
Chapter 10. Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts and Wardle, "How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world", European Journal of Social Psychology 40, 2010, pages 998 to 1009. 96 volunteers, 82 with usable data, 12 weeks, time to plateau 18 to 254 days. Read in summary.
Chapter 11. Dai, Milkman and Riis as above, whose landmarks included weeks and months. The claim about Januaries made of Mondays is the author's guess and is labelled as one.
Chapter 12. Dai, Milkman and Riis as above, for the searches. The rest is the author's reading.
Chapter 13. Lally and colleagues as above. Wohl, Pychyl and Bennett, "I forgive myself, now I can study: how self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination", Personality and Individual Differences 48, 2010, pages 803 to 808, as verified for the earlier book Start it badly. 134 first-year students, correlational.
Chapter 14. Milne, Orbell and Sheeran as above. The claims about novels and trains are opinion and are labelled as such.
Chapter 15. Polivy and Herman, Norcross and colleagues, Milne and colleagues, Oettingen and Mayer, and Lally and colleagues, all as above. The long sentence is the author's.
Chapters 16 and 17. No sources. The arithmetic and the reading are the author's.
Chapter 18. Gollwitzer and Sheeran, "Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes", Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38, 2006, pages 69 to 119, as verified for earlier books in this series. 94 tests, medium to large effect. Milne and colleagues, and Norcross and colleagues, as above. The book on choosing is Pick one, in this series.
Chapter 19. Locke and Latham, Milne and colleagues, Dai and colleagues, and Lally and colleagues, as above. The book on self-criticism is You wouldn't say it to a friend, in this series.
Chapter 20. Gollwitzer and Sheeran, and Lally and colleagues, as above. The rule hasn't been tested as a package and what to expect is the author's expectation.
Chapter 21. Norcross and colleagues and Oscarsson and colleagues as above for the most common resolutions and for approach goals. The NHS Better Health "Lose weight" page, read on 26 September 2026. The NHS line about low mood for two weeks or more is as verified for earlier books in this series. The line about alcohol withdrawal follows the guidance in the earlier book The drink didn't do that and isn't a substitute for it. The other books named are Eat when you're hungry, Breakfast isn't the problem, Open the envelope, Pay yourself on payday and Pick one.
Chapter 22. Lally and colleagues, and Wohl and colleagues, as above.
Chapter 23. No sources.
Looked up and not used. Kappes and Oettingen, "Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47, 2011, title and authors verified but no abstract available from any free source, so it isn't cited. Buehler, Griffin and Ross, "Exploring the planning fallacy", 1994, the same. Fishbach and Dhar, "Goals as excuses or guides", 2005, the same. Ordóñez and colleagues 2009, title only, as noted under chapter 9.