Instead of chasing your holiday cheer with New Year’s resolutions, consider waiting a few months. People tend to see resolutions as black or white, forgetting that change is incremental; being “happier” is a better resolution than being “happy,” for instance, says Tim Bono, lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. A lack of flexibility often means that after one slip-up—skipping a run because it’s raining, or only drinking seven glasses of water instead of eight—people give up entirely. When it comes to the practice of setting new goals for the year ahead, however, there’s one problem that Bono can’t help with. One that can only be overcome with a cultural shift, a radical change in the way we view this time-honored tradition: Winter can be a real downer. “Maybe we need to disabuse ourselves of the idea that January 1 is the best time to make …