New Years Resolutions Suck!
Every year, millions of people set themselves new years resolutions. I explore reasons for why this logic is irrational, and why we shouldn't wait until the beginning of a new year to change our lives for the better.
Hey readers 👋
Happy new year! I hope that the new year/decade has some fantastic things in store for you all.
On the topic of the new year, someone asked me why I don’t make new year’s resolutions, and the reason is simple. If it’s something that would significantly improve my life, there’s no need for me to wait until the new year. I can make the change today and start enhancing my life, without delay.
Say it’s the first week in November, you’re slightly overweight and decide that going to the gym will significantly improve your life. You choose to make going to the gym a new years resolution.
In those 7 weeks, you could have started going to the gym, working out regularly and building this habit. You will also have 7 weeks of progress to show, which can snowball and continue to push you as we tick into the new year. A huge head start.
Forget waiting until the new year, before starting on your resolutions. Starting now can improve your life significantly.
On a side note, I’m excited to grow and evolve this newsletter this year, making sure it remains relevant and helpful for all readers. Any ideas/feedback you may have are welcome.
Featured Article
Despite the title of this newsletter, I know a number of you will have already commenced on your new year’s resolutions. This post should help you remain consistent and the results of this consistency will be astonishing.
Samuel Ajayi-Obe
3 Things I've Enjoyed This Week
- It’s 2020 and you’re in the future - Ideal post for the new year/decade. Tim takes us back, giving a little history lesson. Reading this made me feel old!
- Read This Before You Make Another Decision - Gary makes an interesting point that there is no perfect decision and that there’s no way to ever know if you’ve made the right/wrong decision, but you have to continue living your life. “Whichever decision you make, you won’t know how the other one would’ve played out.”
- Priorities - Seth discusses why we shouldn’t use someone else’s priorities to guide our work - it lets us off the hook.
Tweet of the Week
Waiting to start your life until certain preconditions are met is the fastest way to end up old, bitter and depressed.
— Carlos Del Valle (@cdelvallejr) July 21, 2019
This Week's Wisdom
“Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough”
- Alain de Botton, in the book: Show Your Work
I use readwise to resurface content I've previously highlighted. My followers can get an extra month for free by following this link.
Every Sunday, I write a lesson I wished I had learned 10 years earlier, to feed our brains with intelligent content to start our week.
I also share interesting articles, book quotes, and the occasional speech or TED talk to help us all get smarter, wiser, and live better.
I follow my curiosity at SamuelObe.com
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