Forget new year resolutions and do this instead

Last December, like many of you folks, I sat down and made a list of new year resolutions.

“I’ll read like a maniac“

“I’ll practice the guitar daily“

“I will write till I bleed words..“

While I started strong, soon everything collapsed like a house of cards. So I started to look for ways in which some thought leaders do this. Here are some from people I admire:

• James Clear

James clear is the author of Atomic habits, one of my favourite books.

Like his writing, his method is simple and clear 🙂 . At the end of the year, he asks himself 3 questions:

a. What went well this year?

b. What didn’t go so well this year?

c. What did I learn?

You can find an example here, and more if you scroll down in the same page.

• Eric Partaker

Eric has been named "CEO of the Year" at the 2019 Business Excellence Forum, one of the "Top 30 Entrepreneurs in the UK", 35 and under, by Startups Magazine, and among "Britain's Most Disruptive Entrepreneurs" by The Telegraph. I read and learn from him via LinkedIn.

Eric has created comprehensive list of 18 questions you should answer. Give yourself a rating between 1 and 10:

10 = always
1 = never

• Tim Ferris

  

Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and one of Fortune’s “40 under 40.” He is an early-stage technology investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ others) and the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers.

Here is his method:

1. Create two columns: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.

2. Go through your calendar from the last year, looking at every week.

3. For each week, note down any people or activities or commitments that triggered peak positive or negative emotions for that month. Put them in their respective columns.

4. Look at your notepad list and ask, “What 20% of each column produced the most reliable or powerful peaks?”

5. Based on the answers:

   a. Take your “positive” leaders and schedule more of them in the new year. Get them on the calendar now! Book things with friends and prepay for activities/events/commitments that you know work. It’s not real until it’s in the calendar.

   b. Take your “negative” leaders, put “NOT-TO-DO LIST” at the top, and put them somewhere you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of 2024. These are the people and things you know make you miserable, so don’t put them on your calendar out of obligation, guilt, FOMO, or other nonsense.

• Sahil Bloom

Sahil Bloom is an inspirational writer and content creator, captivating millions of people every week through his social insights and bi-weekly newsletter, The Curiosity Chronicle.

Here is his list of questions:

1. What did I change my mind on this year?
2. What created energy this year?
3. What drained energy this year?
4. Who were the boat anchors in my life?
5. What did I not do because of fear?
6. What were my greatest hits and worst misses?
7. What did I learn this year?

My method will take a little bit from each of the 4 methods 🙂 

How about you? Hope you can use one of these methods and make 2024 the beat year ever! If you found it helpful, share the article with someone who will benefit from it. Let me know your thoughts!