New Year’s Resolutions Are Worthless, but You Should Make Them Anyway

Every new year we hear the same statistics about how few people keep their New Years resolutions and every year people continue to make them only to become part of those same statistics.

 

Of course, people are successfully resolving to change their lives all the time, it’s just more common during the New Year. A New Year represents a new opportunity for things to be different (of course, so does each day, but we’ll get to that later). Many people think that the timing  of a new year is significant. Make a resolution with the clean slate of a new year in front of you, and you’ll be more likely to be successful.

 

It’s a wishful fantasy, but a fantasy nonetheless.

 

There’s nothing magical about the arbitrary timing of one year changing into the next that will help you achieve your goals. The promise of a clean slate can be helpful, but it won’t save you if you haven’t set up the systems that you need to succeed.

 

We are swiftly approaching another New Year and you might be wrestling with the notion that you know New Years resolutions don’t work, but there are changes you want to make in your life. You don’t want to stay mired in mediocrity.

 

So what do you do?

 

The short answer is that you make New Year’s Resolution anyway. Not because there’s anything special about the New Year but because that’s where we are right now.

 

However, instead of deluding yourself into thinking things will be different this time, you can make things different by approaching them differently.

 

This year you can finally make your resolutions the right way, a way that virtually guarantees your success. You can escape average and achieve awesome results. You can make permanent changes. You can chase you dreams and get farther than most people ever will.

 

If that excites you, then this post is for you and you should read on. If you were just reading this post out of curiosity, I think you will only find it intimidating.

 

So if you’re ready to level up and stretch yourself, let’s go:

 

1) Define What You Want

 

As the legendary life coach Tony Robbins has said: “If you don’t have something to move towards, you settle.” It might seem like the very act of setting a New Year’s resolution gives you something to move towards, but if you want to have any hope of making real progress, you need something much more powerful than a short term result.

 

You need a captivating vision of the future that inspires and motivates you. You need a 10 Year Plan for a Remarkable Life.

 

The concept of the 10 year plan is simple, you ask yourself what you want your life to look like in 10 years. You don’t consider the possibility of failure in this exercise, you just focus on your ideal life and answer questions like:

 

• Where will you be living?
• Who will you be living with?
• What will you be working on?

 

You can get extremely particular with this exercise. When my wife and I created our 10 Year Plan we talked about things as detailed as what kind of bed we will have, what will be one it, and the exact system we would use to schedule one-on-one time with the kids.

 

The 10 Year Plan gives you a context for your resolutions. It provides a powerful “why” behind the effort and discipline that is required to achieve your goals.

 

It might seem scary to try to work towards such a long-term vision, but if you don’t proactively create your future you will get one by default.

 

The 10 Year Plan can be changed any time you truly feel that what you want has changed. The 10 Year Plan exists to serve you, not the other way around.

 

If you’re finally serious about turning your life around, there is no more important first step that this one. Check out my original post on the subject to see the exact questions that my wife and I answered, then grab a notebook and pen and get to work.

 

2) Set Goals in Your “Discomfort Zone”

 

Once your 10 Year Plan is in place, it’s time to turn your focus to your short-term goals.

 

Make sure your goal has a deadline. Having a defined deadline is critical for keeping you on track and escaping the disease of “someday.” The nice thing about making a New Year’s resolution is that it has a built-in deadline: the end of the year.

 

As renowned author Tim Ferriss has said: “‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.”

 

The most important thing about your goals is that they should be squarely in the “discomfort zone.” Author Michael Hyatt says that there are three zones into which goals might fall:

 

• The comfort zone where you aren’t really challenged.
• The discomfort zone where you are stretched.
• The delusional zone where you quickly become discouraged and give up.

 

Here’s the bottom line: If what you want could be found in the comfort zone you would already have it.

 

The discomfort zone is where real growth happens. It’s where you are stretched and your limits are pushed. It’s where you have to find accountability and discipline to keep you on track. In short, it’s where the magic happens.

 

Your goal should be on the aggressive end of possible. It should scare you a little. You should alternate between thinking you can do it and you can’t. When you tell people your goal, they should be divided as to whether or not it’s realistic.

 

On your first go-around, you might not perfectly hit the discomfort zone. No problem. The discomfort zone is the ideal for a goal, but its more important that you have one than that you get it just right. Lock in your goal, try your best to achieve it by it’s deadline, and adjust your next goal accordingly.

 

3) Build in Accountability

 

The natural way things work is that in a moment of inspiration you can muster up the willpower necessary to face a new challenge, but you end up dropping the ball at the first real resistance you encounter.

 

If you want to stick things out over the long term, you need some kind of real accountability.

 

Normally we avoid our responsibilities because we don’t want to deal with the friction of facing them, but good accountability attaches friction to laziness and inaction.

 

Usually, the best way to have accountability is through an accountability partner, a real-life flesh and blood human being who you have to tell that you didn’t get up early to work on your goals because you were binge-watching shows on Netflix the night before. Not only will a good accountability partner let you have it for a behavior like that, the thought of having to share your poor choices with your accountability partner will help you make better choices in the moment.

 

If you can’t find a good accountability partner, there are other ways to build in accountability. One simple one is the “Red X” method. In this method, you get a red sharpie and a full-year calendar and put a big red X on every day that you win. You want to try to find one simple binary metric to track that let’s you know if you won the day. If your resolution is to finish your novel, you’re probably going to put an X on any day that you wrote at least a certain amount of words. Your goal is now to keep the streak alive. This new goal can be a surprisingly powerful motivator, especially when you’ve put the calendar somewhere unavoidable.

 

This method is also sometimes called the “Seinfeld method” since the legendary comedian once recommended that aspiring comeddians use it to make sure they were writing at least one new joke every day.

 

4) Set Up Systems That Keep You Moving Forward

 

Here’s the real reason most people fail: they rely on their own effort and willpower instead of setting up an unbeatable system.

 

Willpower doesn’t work because it’s an extremely limited resource that is often called on to meet other needs. It is in no way sufficient to force lasting change.

 

Instead of relying on willpower to force yourself into good behavior, you need to make good behavior the path of least resistance.

 

A good system automates as many tasks as possible, providing a framework where making the right choice requires as little friction as possible.

 

If your goal is to lose weight, consider the popular system of meal prepping. Without a good system of meal prepping, what happens on a day that you wake up late and don’t have time to make lunch before work? Well, you probably go to work without lunch debating with yourself about what you should do for lunch. In the back of your head you’re desperately thinking “don’t go to Taco Bell, don’t go to Taco Bell, don’t go to Taco Bell…” But if your work is close to Taco Bell and you were thinking about Taco Bell all morning, you’re probably going to end up sitting in your car around noon with a Cravings deal and a side of self-loathing.

 

On the other hand, what if you went shopping every Sunday at the same time with the same list and then came home and prepped your lunches for the week. Now, even when you sleep in, there is a mason jar with a salad in it waiting for you to grab and go. When it comes to either making your lunch in the morning or going to Taco Bell, Taco Bell is the path of least resistance. When it comes to either going to Taco Bell or grabbing a jar out of the fridge, grabbing the salad in the jar is the path of least resistance.

 

Set up an environment where you can be successful, create habits that support your goals, and automate as many details as possible.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Most people never take the time to set up these four simple steps. They base their New Year’s resolutions on things that they want to do, but haven’t yet fully committed to doing.

 

If you want things to be different for you, the path forward may not be easy, but at least it is simple. Define what you want, set a goal that will stretch you, find accountability, and build a system that will get you there.

 

If you need help creating a system, I’ve created a free resource to assist you: The Ultimate Daily Checklist: 13 Steps to Winning the Day. Once you are committed to achieving your goals, the most important thing becomes “winning” each day. If you win enough days, you will reach your goals. This checklist helps you win each day, every day.

 

Get your free copy of The Ultimate Daily Checklist here