My New Years Resolution Advice:

Don’t start on New Years.

Seriously.

It may feel great to link yourself to everyone else starting a new resolution tomorrow, but 80-90% of those people will fail within a week or two. Enormous build up of potential energy that fizzles on execution…  Do you want to be linked to that? I dont.

So give yourself a few days to eat the leftovers, recover from the hangovers, and decide whether to call or ghost the hook-up. Give the gym floor a chance to clear out too.

Take this week and prepare for your resolution. Purchase the nicotine patches, make your kitchen Whole 30 compliant, get that workout mace delivered, sign up for quicken, get groomed – whatever it is that will support your resolution, DO THAT THIS WEEK. Just don’t go bananas. Some worthwhile resolutions require a modest outlay of cash to get started, but you don’t need the best or most of everything. Remember: prep is not action. It FEELS like a positive step to buy the running shoes, but its not. Execution is king. Your new Hoka One One’s don’t do crap for you till you hit the trail.

Take the week and make sure your friends and family know so they don’t sabotage you by asking you out for a smoke or fast food or a shopping spree. Support can be EVERYTHING. So can having people hold you accountable.

I recommend that you start on Epiphany. January 6th. Ask the Magi to help you follow YOUR star.

One last thing: New Year, New You is a lie. Don’t create a new identity for yourself around your thing. If you wake up on January 1st and say “I am a non-smoker/healthy-eater/avid runner/financially disciplined/non-masturbator” and fool yourself into believing it, I can guarantee you will fail. Why? Because you didn’t just have a cig, eat a burrito, sleep in, or buy a pornhub membership – you collapsed your whole damn identity. Instead of being a person with bad habits who can say “well, I fucked up, but I will do better tomorrow” you now have to deal with the fact that you lied to yourself about who you are. Don’t do that.

You are not a New You in this Brave New Year. The experiences of last year and the year before are still there. Figure out how your past feeds into your future. It’s not a new you, but it can be a better you.

Happy New Year Strategerati

Catch you in the 20’s