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Motivation
Use a Slogan or Mantra to Build Positive New Habits
Few people stick to resolutions. It might be better to try a motivating phrase.
Updated January 31, 2025 Reviewed by Davia Sills
Key points
- Most people abandon their New Year's resolutions.
- A slogan or mantra uses a concise, easily recalled phrase to help motivate and reinforce positive change.
- People can adopt a slogan any time, not only at New Year's.
- A mantra can help keep individuals mindfully living each day.
As a veteran of many health clubs over the decades, I have seen the annual waves of newcomers roll into the gym soon after New Year’s—and roll right back out on the sea of broken resolutions.
How many people who make resolutions or pledge to do or change something on a certain future date actually do or change it and then stick with it long-term?
New research by Michelle Rozen, Ph.D., shows that an overwhelming 94 percent of resolution makers abandon their resolutions, if they haven’t long forgotten them. That’s correct: Only 6 percent of us carry on with the new way we wanted to follow at the start of the year.
Because resolutions are so forgettable—and often so complex or vague as to require a sharp memory simply to recall them after a while—I have long found it useful to adopt a new slogan or mantra instead of making New Year’s resolutions.
My past mantras have included “Just Do It!” (thanks, Nike), “Claim Your Expertise!”, “Embrace Your Life!”, and “Own Your Life!” The exclamation marks are deliberate. Besides being short, concise, and memorable, my mantras have to be active, forward-moving, pushing, pulling, and beckoning me toward better, healthier, happier ways of being and doing.
A new mantra from old wisdom
As the new year began, I wanted a new mantra to encompass my big goal for the year—finding a new literary agent and landing a good contract for my next book—that would apply to other areas of my life, too, including health and exercise, finances, and work for my “day job.”
I found it all in two simple words. My personal slogan for 2025: “Now’s When!”
Among the famous quotations attributed to Hillel the Elder, the spiritual leader of the Jewish people before his death in 10 CE, the rabbi said, “And if not now, then when?”
Put another way, in the wisdom of Winnie the Pooh:
“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.
Today is the day for change. Today is the only day we can be sure of. “Now’s When!” Resolving to do something “someday” is pointless because “someday” never comes. If it did, it would be an extremely busy day indeed, with everything put off until then.
Another way to express it is in the oft-quoted Latin phrase “Carpe diem.” Although it’s usually translated as “seize the day,” it’s more accurately translated as “plucking the day” in the sense of harvesting ripe fruit or flowers and savoring their full sensory experience.
Putting the mantra into practice
“Now’s When!” I have told myself, in my silent inner self-talk, each time I think about something I’m interested in or want to do, but by the second thought, I’m already dismissing it and moving on.
For example, in the nearly four years since I relocated to Atlanta, I have wanted to visit some of Georgia’s beautiful and historic old homes and estates—but really haven’t done anything about it. When I recently read an article about upcoming events in Milledgeville, Ga., to mark the 100th anniversary of Flannery O’Connor’s birth, I saw a chance to start my exploration by visiting Andalusia, the farm that was home to the state’s most famous writer. “Now’s When!” I told myself.
Another example: I was recently recalling how much I enjoyed the cooking class I took while visiting Greece in 2023. I have enjoyed cooking literally since I was a boy, and my parents encouraged me to take after my grandfather, who was a chef. I thought I wanted to take more cooking classes in those eventual retirement years, but that’s still a ways off. The next thought I had was, “Now’s When!” Now’s when to look into classes here in Atlanta to develop my skills and make new friends, too.
Unlike the mantras used in rituals and religion to evoke a mystical state of mind, my mantras are little word kicks-in-the butt to keep myself moving forward and toward creating change and achieving the goals I desire.
A mantra can help keep you on track toward building healthy new habits and fostering a positive mindset. It takes a bit of thought to boil down what you want to do or change into just a few words. Once you do, it’s more likely you will remember it and call upon your mantra when you need it. It’s much easier than trying to remember resolution number three (or was it five?).
But why wait until next New Year’s to adopt a slogan or mantra? It can work all year long, beginning whenever you want it to. You can create change in and around yourself. And if not now, then when?
