New Year…Same… You?

Be honest… did you follow through with your 2024 resolutions?

If so, awesome. Happy for you. But this blog post isn’t for you (though feel free to read anyway!).

If you did not… then this blog post is for you.

Because if no one has given you a wake-up call, I will.

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Look back at your review of 2024. How much did you accomplish?

If you’re satisfied with how things went, despite the ups and downs, great.

But if you know you could have done more… if you know you fell short… if you know that if you had just tried, things would be different… then there’s work you need to do.

Honestly, no judgment. And hey, life happens.

But that doesn’t excuse you from procrastinating for a large part of the year.

Essentially, you need a mindset shift.

You need to:

Value your time
Use pleasure or pain as strong motivators
Find your strong “why”
Have Discipline
Stop procrastinating
Compounding actions that lead up to big results over time
Have resiliency, especially when times get tough and you want quit.
Surround yourself with an environment and friends that support you.
Do the inner work to remove limiting beliefs that may convince you out of accomplishing goals
Identify as the person you want to be

Let’s break each of these down!

1. Value your time

I know a lot of people like to say, “You have a lot of time,” but in some cases, it gives people an excuse to put things off and/or not give as much effort.

A lot can happen in 3-6 months. But if you hold off, you’ll miss out on what could have happened during that time.

For example, let’s say your goal is to improve your conversation and social skills so you can live a much more fulfilled social and dating life, and you decide to start today.

If you put off learning and practicing these skills, it’ll show in your results. And if you keep putting it off for six months, and your results are still nowhere near where you want them to be, you’ve essentially wasted six months.

That’s six months of potential friendships and dating experiences you could have really enjoyed and learned from, but never got to because you waited.

In my opinion, life isn’t predetermined. And for the things that are “meant to be” (as people like to say), you’ve often got to put in the work so that when the opportunities do come your way, you’ll be ready for them.

For example, let’s say you put off doing the inner work to become more emotionally grounded. You want a healthy relationship but know you struggle with lashing out during difficult times.

Now, let’s say someone who was “meant to be” in your life shows up, and they’re the person you really want. Even if a relationship were to happen, do you think it would be successful long-term if you hadn’t been working on yourself?

All food for thought.

Value your time. A year can go by fast.

But so much can happen in a year—if you make the most of it. That’s where understanding your motivations comes into play.

2. Use pleasure or potential pain as motivators

What good will happen in your life if you keep going? What potentially bad things will happen (or what will you miss out on) if you don’t keep going?

This is where your “Why” will help you.

3. Find your strong “Why”

When times get tough, it’s easy to give up and convince ourselves why we shouldn’t keep going.

With a strong “why,” that can change. It can give you just the motivation you need to keep persisting.

Finding your “why” is something you’ll have to think and journal about.

Here are some questions to help you:

What makes you want to accomplish your goal?
Why do you care about your goal?
What do you want to get out of your goal?
How will it improve your life?
What will happen if you don’t accomplish or delay your goal?

The answers to these questions will help you formulate a strong “why.”

For example: “I am committed to accomplishing my goal because…”

As you go about 2025, find solutions to issues. Don’t let issues (and limiting beliefs) hold you back.

The mind is very powerful. Make it be in your favor.

But you will need to have the habits and systems in place to help you stay committed.

4. Have Discipline

Develop the habits, systems, and positive belief systems (not a redundancy) that will help you have and maintain discipline, even on days when you feel no motivation.

5. Stop procrastinating

It’s a bad habit many of us have. If you find yourself procrastinating, start by breaking down your goal into super small steps. From there, the momentum from starting will help you keep going.

For example, if your goal is to go to the gym and you keep putting it off, start by putting on your gym shoes. Or prepping your gym bag. Or making your protein shake.

Just break your goal into super manageable steps and make it easy for yourself to begin. Persist every day until you develop the identity of a person who regularly goes to the gym. Before you know it, the gym will be part of your lifestyle.

Don’t underestimate the power of small actions.

6. Compounding actions that lead up to big results over time

For example, learning at least 10 Italian words per day can really add up over time, so by the time you travel to Italy, you’ll be much more comfortable speaking the language.

You may not have the results you want right now, and that’s okay. Don’t let that get to you.

7. Build resiliency, especially when times get tough and you want quit.

This is so important. Mindset, lifestyle, and environment will affect you. Have the courage and strength to keep going. Having the right support system will help you.

8. Surround yourself with an environment and friends that support you.

It’ll be hard to get things done if your environment feels degrading, makes you fall back into old habits, or makes you feel stuck in a rut.

If your friends don’t support you, that’ll make it even harder.

Our drive to succeed is amplified by the right environment and quality friendships. If these areas are lacking, it’s time for an upgrade.

But even with external factors helping us, it helps to have strong inner factors.

9. Do Inner Work to Remove Limiting Beliefs

Limiting beliefs can convince you out of accomplishing your goals. Replacing them with empowering ones takes work, but it’s worth it.

10. Identify as the person you want to be

This is probably the most important one.

At the start, your mind may try to convince you to fall back into your old ways. This is because it’s unfamiliar with this new way of living—it’s uncharted territory.

You have to embody the person you want to become and act as if you already are that person.

How would the 2.0 version of you think, act, and feel every day?

Every day, you have a choice in what actions to take.

Your feelings and mental chatter may try to convince you to give up.

But don’t.

To support the idea of identify further, here’s a helpful video from Newel of Knowledge.

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While I’m not saying you should go full extreme mode, overwork yourself, or skip out on holidays, family gatherings, and self-care, I am saying that on the days when you do have the time and your basic needs are met, it’s time to put in the work instead of pushing things off.