Happy New Year! Quitter's Day is coming...
How to gird your loins for the 2nd Friday of January (and beyond)
Bless me Follower, for I have sinned. It’s been over 2 months since my last newsletter…
I’ll spare you the gritty details of everything that has transpired since Halloween—it’s a grim tally, as you well know. After all, it’s true what they say:
Time flies like an arrow, and fruit flies like a banana.
Suffice it to say, it’s been a hectic many weeks of travel, family, national news, and local loquacity: I attended my 20th high school reunion in MI…saw some stars in TX…hugged a few trees in CA (by the way, if you haven’t read The Overstory yet, do yourself a favor)…and then finally settled into my usual groove of holiday wantonness and preternatural indulgence.
Which brings us now to one of my favorite times of any year—scrubbing the sugar-plum residue from my eyes and taking a good honest look in the mirror, at the amassed evidence of delicious slippage and derelict habits—and deciding how I’m going to sculpt the year ahead.
New Year’s Resolutions (a no-groan zone)
I’ve written about resolutions before (e.g: What’s Better Than SMART Goals? SmartASS Goals!) and I’ve been quite successful at keeping my own. I’ve even won money on it.
The main trick is understanding the difference between goals and resolutions. A goal is what you want to achieve. A resolution is what you’ll do to get there. Preferably in weekly increments (monthly is too broad; daily far too onerous—either way, you’re more likely to fail and therefore quit).
Goal = Lose 10 lbs
Bad resolution = I will walk more and eat less sugar.
Good resolution = Each week I will hit 10,000 daily steps 4x, and have dessert/soda no more than 2x.
The best resolutions are easy to tally in your planner/calendar/whiteboard/habit tracker app. And the best approach to any resolution is to ritualize it. That’s how we justify bad habits…it’s also the way to solidify good ones. Remember those gold stars in grade school? You can get the same thrill in adulthood with checkmarks in a planner, trust me.
I have approximately 18 million things I want to accomplish in 2025, but these are some of the key habits I plan to maintain:
Fitness:
Gym or dogpark – 2x
Stretch – 3-5x
Autophagy fast 36+ hours – 0.25x (i.e. monthly)
Personal:
Text someone randomly – 1x
Journal or meditate – 3x
Fiction:
Send 3-5 publication pitches or review requests
Record 1/2 video (i.e. every 2 weeks)
Complete 1/2 newsletter (yep, that’s you!)
General:
No snacks after 9pm
Non-work spliffs cost 1 mile run
Dry January
It’s a lot—but I’m a resolutions pro. Best practice is to start with 1-3 good ones…you can always add more later.
How to keep resolutions trick #2: Accountability
I have the rare fortune to be part of an enduring group of brilliant, indomitable, and relentless friends so tight-knit we have our own collective noun. For the past 20 years the Enclave has been my accountability in all things; but especially when it comes to structured New Year’s Resolutions. I can happily lie to myself and justify anything—but I’d never lie to these guys.
In the past, we’ve run a Resolutions Pool; where everyone antes up in January, and we report in each week on the honor system via WhatsApp. Last man standing gets 1/2 the pot…then finishing out the year earns the 2nd half.
That’s fanatical, and I don’t necessarily recommend it. Once you fall out, you’re just done, and free to sloth around. This year we’re taking a different approach; aiming for connection & support rather than competitive do-or-die. We’ll gather virtually each Sunday for a video check-in…the Enclave Church of Self Improvement. To confess our sins and set our own absolutions.
When it comes to resolutions—each of us is parishioner, priest, god, and devil, all in one and one in all.
That goes for you too…whether you know the dance steps or not. If you want to actually keep your New Year’s Resolutions though, you’ll stand a better chance if you bring in some community.
Want an accountabilibuddy? Write your resolution(s) in an email or comment below…and I’ll check in periodically to see how you’re doing!