A New Year's Reminder Not To Make Resolutions

I have a confession to make: I’ve never made a New Year's resolution.

It’s not that I have anything against moonshot ideas, stretch goals, or big life changes – much the opposite, actually – it’s that I don’t think New Year’s resolutions work. Fortunately, I’ve found a better way to achieve big goals. Let me break it down.

So, you want to change your life? Great! Regardless of the goal – fitness, health, savings, friends, family – you need to start with the basics. What tools, skills, people, or other factors do you need to get there? There’s a couple obvious answers – a damn good plan and a cache of motivation – but, the most overlooked factor is perhaps the most important, too: the environment around you. Your situation will reinforce (or undermine) the behaviors that, piece by piece, will help you reach your long-term goals.

The answers to those questions are actually quite simple. The off season isn’t a time to just lay on the couch and do nothing (although that is totally acceptable, especially in the three to seven days post-marathon). No, the off season is a time to take care of yourself physically and mentally. It’s a key time to rest, reflect, and rebuild for next season—and there are non-negotiables I have every winter to help me do exactly that. Here they are:

New Year’s resolutions, on the other hand, are often contrived and near-sighted– a new gym membership, a juice cleanse, eating out less, a sober month, traveling more – and require humans to do what they are absolutely terrible at: flip a switch and go cold turkey. Instead, I try to focus on the environment around me, which if done right will lead to longer and more durable impact. Even for the strongest willed humans, consistency comes as much from external motivators as it does internally.

Every December, when my life slows down between busy seasons, I take time to reflect on my behaviors, the environments that facilitate them, and the key catalysts that drive them. There’s a lot of questions on this list, but a few of the most basic are also the most important. Who do I surround myself with? How am I managing my time? When am I going to bed? What food makes it into the fridge? Good answers to these four questions go a long way to a better life.

For instance, I care less about what I eat each meal than what makes it into my grocery cart, because the cart creates my baseline environment. A single meal has little impact; a week’s worth of healthy eating can help me turn a big corner. Likewise, I’m good at saying yes to dawn patrol adventures and no to weeknight parties, because I’ve set a clear bedtime. I workout consistently because, more than anything, all my friends do too. To be clear, I’m not some ultra-motivated sicko. I’m a pretty normal guy who has normalized healthy habits by building an environment that encourages them.