Have you heard of the “Quitter's Day”?
Quitters Day falls on January 19th. It is the day, according to a study with 800 million people in 2019, that the majority of people will fail their New Year’s Resolutions. That’s less than 3 weeks into the New Year, what the hell!
Other studies conducted by Strava show that 80% of people will definitely abandon their New Year’s Resolutions by the second week of February.
Are you in this situation? Have you given up on your New Year’s resolutions?
Let’s take a step back and go back in time to December. The Christmas holidays are typically an important moment of reflection. We look back at the last 12 months in the attempt of understanding what we did wrong and what we can do better in the year ahead. But we have to be careful about New Year’s resolutions, because they are a double-edged sword.
As you think about them, you feel good! We discussed the brain chemicals in the Habit podcast episode. As you write them down, you feel you are the master of your future!
We all have New Year’s resolutions.
More precisely, according to YouGov Omnibus, the most popular New Year’s resolutions are:
Exercising more (59%)
Eating healthier (54%)
Saving money (51%)
Losing weight (48%)
Reducing stress (38%)
All great ideas, aren’t they? But how come we never take action?
Let me ask you a question: what makes you think that if you were not able to do something until December, in January you will magically succeed?
The answer is obvious: nothing.
But the New year is considered a moment of change, and the main businesses know this and are waiting for you! Have you ever wondered why all the gym discounts, Netflix offers, subscriptions are launched in January? Because people want to change. And when they want to change, they spend.
And guess what? Let’s take the example of the gym. Did you know that approximately 60% of the gym memberships people start in January never get used? Mind blowing, isn’t it? 60% of revenue is basically pure profit for the gym because people never use the gym services.
Surely it is not the magic of the New Year to make easy what was difficult, if not impossible, until today.
New Year’s resolutions are a great idea, because they give a direction to your Reticular Activating System (more on another article). However, to make them a reality, you need more than willpower.
You need three things:
The right Mindset
The right Strategy
The right Skills
These are the three pillars of the T1 Growth Academy and I am preparing a full episode on this topic.
To be more precise, the way you get the above is:
Customization
Working 1:1 with many private clients, I can ensure you: what works for others will not work for you. Do not believe your friend who tells you he lost 10 pounds with a magic program; it worked for him, it may not work for you!
You need to understand your baseline, your starting point. Behavioral Science comes in handy.
Hire a professional Coach, Trainer, Mentor, who can guide you and create a customized program! Community
Humans are extremely adaptable to the environment that surrounds them. Have you noticed that you tend to behave differently depending on the environment that surrounds you? This is a big advantage for survival reasons, but it is also a big drawback!
Customization is useless if you are not part of the right Community. If you belong to a community of ambitious people, you will elevate yourself and grow. If you belong to a community of idiots, you will become an idiot.
Find a Community of growth-minded people. If you stay home with your mom, you will stay in your comfort zone and things will not change! Immersion
You can implement changes in 3 years, or in 3 months. The choice is yours. I truly believe that TIME is the most valuable currency of all, and this is why I am ready to spend any sum (unless way beyond budget) that makes me save time!
Full immersion allows you to gain momentum and stop procrastinating. This is why I am trying to organize a live event with T1 Growth Academy. The logistics are slightly complex due to COVID, but I know it could benefit lots of people!
Of course, Customization, Community and Immersion are connected. You can have a private Coach and then be part of a community of high-achievers who periodically organize fully immersive weekends for instance. The three things are very much interrelated. Remember: Everything begins with your MINDSET. This is why my Self Mastery program is 80% focused on Mindset.
You need to go deep and understand what makes you uncertain and insecure, what worries you. What truly worries you about New Year’s resolutions?
You need to find a sense of purpose that allows you to identify what really matters to you! What will pull you forward? Why are you going to begin these New Year’s resolutions in the first place? Why is it important to you?
It is not easy, but it is possible, and possible is all we need. You need to get serious about this. You cannot focus on all the wrong strategies and forget the only thing that matters: the investment in your growth. People are so busy with what seem apparent problems that they forget the only important thing: their self-development.
Will you keep struggling like a hamster on the running wheel? Will you arrive at the end of 2022, look in the mirror, and find the same person of 2021? I don’t know about you, but this is not how I want to end my 2022.
So how can you be different? How can you achieve your biggest goals for 2022 instead of leaving them written in some pages of your agenda?
With my clients, we go pretty deep into this stuff; for the sake of this article, let me tell you about an important concept.
Truth is… It’s not just about setting good intentions, it’s about changing HABITS…
The idea is, it is not enough to intellectually know that you should do something. How many times have we said “I should do this, I should do that..” We should all over ourselves!
We have to go from knowing to acting. This is why I designed the January Challenge: Taking the first step for one of your New Year’s resolutions! The process of acting alters your subconscious mind and welcomes the new you without fighting old habits.
Beginning the New Year with the right foot has everything to do with gaining MOMENTUM!
To be completely transparent with you, I do not believe in NY resolutions. I do not believe in plans. New Year’s resolutions seem kind of “fake” to me and extensive plans of action are difficult to abide to and take away flexibility and innovation.
The only thing I deeply believe in is massive, relentless, action. Being able to generate energy on command and creating momentum. Massive, relentless action, will beat any resolution and any plan. Of course you need to have an idea of where you want to go but, as I mentioned before, the only thing that matters is gaining momentum.
When you think about NY resolutions, it seems like there is a lot to be achieved...
But truly what this boils down to is taking the first step. That's it.
If you have always wanted to ask someone out, send them a message today and ask them out this weekend.
If you want to start investing, open the investment account.
If you have always wanted to start a blog, start writing the first page.
If you have always wanted to learn a new skill, watch the first lesson.
If you have always wanted to hit the gym, show up for a class.
If you have always wanted to start a podcast, record the first episode, or even open a Spotify account if you do not have one.
If you have always wanted to ask for a raise, schedule a meeting with your Manager.
If you have always wanted to apply for that new job, start customizing your CV and cover letter.
Commit to it for at least 3 months. You will see that the most difficult thing to achieve for New Year resolutions is momentum! This is why people give up on the second week of February; they realize they failed in generating positive momentum and think “I haven’t done anything until today, who am I kidding? I am not going to do it”. They postpone the goal to 2023.
You cannot wait for a time of change. You must be able to create a time of change. When you take the first step, and then a second step, and then a third step, before you even know it, you will be a huge success! I will conclude this article with the most important tip of all.
When I launched the January Challenge, many of you let me know that they could not find the time to take the first step of your New Year’s resolution.
Here is the secret:
1. You need to understand if you are unconsciously self-sabotaging
Are you sabotaging yourself, maybe unconsciously?
Maybe you are not taking the first step because you are afraid of failure. You are afraid of people’s judgement!
You keep repeating a bullshit story: "I am busy", "I do not have time". But the truth is much deeper: you are standing in your own way! You are afraid of change.
I can tell you, from experience, that 90% of the people are in this situation, stuck at step 1. This is what I explore in depth with my clients because this has to do with Mindset!
Mindset is what blocks people from beginning their New Year’s resolutions. Then there is step 2:
2. If you truly are committed and you truly have no time - your schedule is so busy that you barely have time to eat and sleep - here is what I want you to do:
Open your calendar (if you do not use a calendar app, start using one) and block 1 hour per day for yourself! It can be early morning, close to lunch, in the evening, it does not matter: out of 24 hours, 1 hour must be for yourself.
Why is this so crucial? Remember: the inability of implementing a new routine or a new habit, as Jay Shetty says, is caused by your inability to make time for yourself without any distraction!
I can ensure you that if you have one free hour, with no phone, you will start reading, meditating, cooking, whatever you want to do. But you need to block it on your calendar.When I started doing this in 2016, people made fun of me. “A hour for yourself? What are you doing, masturbating?”. You could masturbate, if you wanted to, but I would not recommend it and we will explore the reasons in another episode where we discuss high-performance and its relationship with masturbation, which is incredibly interesting.
Truth is, I did not listen to those people who made fun of me, and once I overcame my mental limitations (step 1) and scheduled time for myself (step 2) I accomplished way more than I ever thought possible!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about this easy 2-step process!Thank you for being here with me today, make your life a masterpiece, see you next week, I appreciate you and I hope you have an amazing weekend.
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