One of the best YouTube videos I’ve seen this year is by Thomas Frank. He articulates why we don’t stick to our New Years resolutions. Check out the video here.
Put simply, we fool ourselves. We believe when the date on our phone goes from 2019 to 2020, we’ll have more energy, more time, more willpower to do all the things we know we should be doing to live a happy and healthy life. But we don’t. We’re the same person we were yesterday. We have the same time constraints, the same bad habits.
The only remedy is to stop giving a time for things. “I’ll start being good with my money in two weeks.” Or “I’ll begin pursuing my passions tomorrow.” If you’re really going to make a change, why not start today?
The motivation or momentum you feel at the beginning of the year won’t last. Definitely take advantage of it if you experience that boost in energy. Just know it is temporary, and that the only thing which will provide you the change you want is building long-term habits to reach your goals.
The morning you wake up and don’t feel like going to the gym at all…that’s the most important time to go. It’s when you prove to yourself that you don’t do helpful things when you feel like it, you do them because that’s just what you do.