Stop Waiting for New Year’s Resolutions, Start Now

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

New years can have a lot of meaning to a lot of people. It has been customary to set new goals at the beginning of everything. People set new goals every new week, every new month, and every new year.

Many of us are looking for productivity habits to motivate ourselves to become better at the end of each year. We all tend to become the better version of ourselves, and it's in our DNA — unless they rare cases that don’t care.

The best way to find better habits for ourselves is to look for something that can shape us and at the same time motivate us to keep going. The worst thing is to copy someone else just for the sake of becoming like them. Don’t do that. It won’t last.

New year resolutions are overrated — at least it what I think — for many reasons:

1. If you want to start becoming better at something, the best time to start is now.
2. They rarely last. Most people lose interest after a couple of months or even weeks.
3. They are taken as customary self-remorse to do what everyone else is doing.
4. Most people lose interest/hope/motivation after a couple of weeks because they did not set the proper goals.

So the Question Remains, Do they Work?

There is no right answer, yes and no. Yes to some, no for many. The reason why I said earlier that it is overrated is for the fact that some people set new years resolutions without asking themselves the important question:

What makes me happy?

This is why most of us can’t get the habits done in our habit list. This is why we have many people complaining that they can’t find time to do this consistently. Habits like working out, eating healthy, staying in shape, reading, and having a healthy lifestyle overall are the hardest to maintain. The reason behind this is that these habits require time to show results.

People are inpatient beings by nature.

How to Make New Years Resolutions Better?

Here are some steps to take to make setting your “New Years Resolution” effective:

1. Write down all the activities/habits that you wish you have accomplished and would like to give them a try.
2. Filter through the list and set a difficult scale (super easy, easy, moderate, hard, very hard).
3. Eliminate (hard and very hard) habits. This is to make excuses less and less.
4. Now have a look at the list and filter them from top to bottom. The habits that you can have someone/something to keep you accountable for.
5. Take the top 5 habits and choose only 3.
6. From the 3 habits, which is the most motivating one to you? The habit that you think you will enjoy the most? Choose that.
7. Stick to this habit and keep track for at least 2 months. According to James Clear's blog post: How Long Does it Actually Take to Form a New Habit? (Backed by Science):

“On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact.”

So 2 months is good enough — keep it simple, and you will see the results soon.

What is more important? Motivation or Discipline?

Motivation is the inner and outer voice that is calling you to keep going. The problem with relying on motivation is that you can lose interest if you lost motivation or what motivates you.

On the other hand, discipline is the engine that keeps you going no matter what. Having discipline will wake you up in the morning not because you felt like it but because you have to wake up. You go to the gym not because you want to, but because you have to go there and list the weights. You don’t eat that slice of pizza not because you want to — we all know you want that pepperoni and cheese slice of happiness; stop kidding yourself — BUT, you don’t do that because you HAVE to.

This is the difference between having motivation and discipline. Both are important; however, the former makes your dreams start, the latter makes your excuses end.

Good luck planning your habits. Start today and let your “new year resolution” be today instead of waiting for a new year.

“Don’t wait another day to start the small disciplines that will lead you in the direction of your goals!”

— Author: Darren Hardy

Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed it.
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You can reach me @alounpro on Twitter .
Have a lovely day!
— Ahmad Aloun