Pick 3 to be really good at. A long list can be paralyzing. You’ll be stoked on your accomplishments if you nail just a few of these. Go get em! More on reddit.com

I never make New Year's goals. If I want to have a new goal then I don't need a specific time in year to start doing it. I just start doing it...

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Learn 1 new recipe a week Save and Invest XXX each week Check in with 1 different friend each week Move your body for an hour each day Hike 2 new trails by the end of the month Plan your travel for the year Gather and donate all your clothes that need to go More on reddit.com

want it so bad you 'cheated a bit' and started before new years. there's nothing wrong with doing it Jan 1 but often, that putting it off is a sign you aren't going to want it badly enough you stick with it long term... likewise though, if we're here mid January and you have already been floundering on a new year's goal, that doesn't mean you've failed. it means you also can dive in hard now just as much as if it were the clock changing over to a new year, new you. i did not normally consider myself a 'have a group you check in with to hold you accountable' type person. everyone's supportive but also quite polite. and even the people who rip on you--we know they really mean well. it makes it all easy to ignore. for me though now it has gotten to the point where i DO look forward to having stuff to share in a biweekly check in. it makes me feel like there is a much tighter deadline and i want to make more frequent progress. if you want to do X thing by the end of the year, you can kinda wait until... say... may, no problem, right? right? that is what we tell ourselves. so basically: create a timeline. now, i consider myself to already be in the phase of my life where i have 'gotten my shit together.' and i did this in a year where i decided to make 1 new positive habit each month, that i would then continue through the year. form and do an exercise routine. bring a healthy lunch to work instead of buying fast food. get a weekly social gathering together. get a strict hygiene routine going that i do no matter what. that sort of thing. the pacing really worked for me and the monthly aspect insured i was trying hard in january, august, november, all of it. without being overwhelming. so these days i want to have something at least MILDLY impressive to report to my friends every two weeks. just do it whether you feel like it or not, whether you're all-in or not, whether you have the energy, whether you think you will be doing it so half-ass that it won't even do anything. the importance is getting your mind used to doing the hard thing even when you don't want to. and progress is still progress. it's also important because for many things, lack of progression, is regression. if you don't work out your athleticism will atrophy. if you aren't cleaning your place, it's getting dirtier. if you aren't playing your instrument, you're getting rusty. when you are feeling lazy you can paradoxically think of yourself as a staunch defender holding back the tides of this regression. because imagine two versions of you. one who does the half ass versions every day... or the person who does nothing unless they 'really feel motivated' which we all know does not really happen enough to create significant progress. that 'half assed' version of you will be kicking ass. so what if they progressed 75% as much as they would have if they went all out all the time? are you going all out all the time? no? then go mostly out all the time. "be a goldfish." when you fuck up don't be like 'nooooo i always do this! i always fail! something always happens! i'm cuuuursed! it's SO OVER!" instead be like 'whoops, that's not like me to miss a workout. because after all i have an IRON WILL and NEVER miss a workout!" and you get BACK on track so FAST that you don't even REMEMBER your fuckup. nobody else will either when they see you have become a champion. i have noticed this when comparing my writing vs. playing guitar. when playing an instrument, and not recording, it was real easy for me to 'be a goldfish' and forget a bad practice session. but with writing, a bad session is there waiting for you next time, like a bully at the doorway of your school. it makes you not wanna go there. so i write in a different sub-document every day, not looking at what i did last time. i worry about that in the editing phase. if you have trouble 'being a goldfish' with certain things like this, see if you can figure out a workaround that makes doing it all again the next day easier. pick your most important goals. let go of your less important ones without guilt or shame. do only what is most fulfilling and you will have the most fulfillment. not all dreams are good to chase. we can't be everything. however, doing one or two things you 'don't care about' can also be relaxing. i am in no way hoping to become a professional, or even especially good, guitarist, and that makes it more fun and fulfilling for me to do. make a schedule, pick times, set alarms. doing things when you feel like it doesn't work. if you have a weird and hectic schedule? master it. if that means writing a new schedule for your goals every week, write a new schedule for your goals every week. guess what, schedule the time you're gonna write that schedule too. then stick to it. you wanna do something to make your life better? treat it like how you (hopefully) just go to work or school whether you feel like it or not, whether you have the energy or not, whether it even seriously 'makes sense that day' or not. minimize pain points. take a step back from your life, pretend to have a legitimate out of body experience. if you were a Sims player, and you were in charge of taking care of this person, making sure they could do everything they needed to do, what would you change? maybe you'd block reddit on their computer and phone. block their toxic ex's number and social media accounts. have them cut the most toxic person out of their life. and have them strengthen their relationship with their most positive and caring person. pour out all their liquor. rearrange their living space so their exercise and art equipment is what a person would default to using rather than a couch aimed at a TV with fifteen streaming service subscriptions. aren't working out because of join issues? see a doctor, get the appropriate equipment. Or another scenario, let's say you hear the phrase, "You know what you need to do." What is it? We all have that lingering SOMETHING. For me it was cutting a toxic long-term friend who had become hateful of certain demographics and would often redirect conversations to negative things about them--whether they were true or not. No amount of convincing would change his mind long term even though short term he would agree. I now no longer have a long and wasted social interaction every week, I didn't realize how much time and stress that one friend was causing. pick goals that will INCREASE your ability to achieve other goals. make this year your 'snowball effect' year. tired all the time from a fucked up sleep schedule? make that priority #1. don't have your driver's license which is why you can't get a better job or get to the gym regularly? get on that. come to a level of self-understanding, AND act on it. for me one thing i was realizing was that i was doing a lot of self-sabotaging. positive changes can be amazing.... but they can also be scary. if you stay single you don't have to worry about getting cheated on or broken up with. if you don't socialize you don't have to worry about saying something awkward and being judged for it. if you don't get that promotion, you don't have to worry about the additional responsibility. We feel like we are keeping our problems small... but we are ALSO keeping our ability to SOLVE problems small. New stuff can definitely be scary, but it's also always easier than I imagined. I remember being SO afraid of the responsibility, moving out of my parents' house into my own apartment. Lots of new forms to sign, bills to pay... after the first month of doing that i wondered what the hell i was ever worried about. Most things are pretty streamlined nowadays. if millions of people can do something, so can you. learn to fear NOT changing, embrace changing and improvements. Face the difficulties and you become the person for whom these things are no longer difficult. Don't hesitate to get professional help. Look at the people who 'have their shit together' the most. People often look at them and say, well of COURSE they're on top of everything, they have like a team of professionals behind them! They're nothing special by themselves!" Okay, so let's do that then. They can be expensive, but you know what else is expensive? Floundering around trying a bunch of 70 dollar solutions every other month instead of making that 150 dollar appointment to get shirt sorted. Assemble your own 'team' and let them do all the hard work in fields you know little about--while you focus on what you do best, what matters to you most, and actually DOING the things those pros advise, and having THEM make adjustments to maximize your benefits. Do not cheap out on yourself. Making these appointments can also act as a timeline for your goals--say you want to be a singer, book one singing lesson a month, and now you will have an impending deadline to actually do your singing exercises, you want to sing enough to be able to impress your teacher and have new questions to ask so it is not wasted money. This type of professional appointment is way better than the usual 'i'll buy a gym membership and that will make me go to the gym.' It won't, but if you book sessions with a personal trainer, it probably will. It is true that professionals don't know everything, aren't always right, and make mistakes. But you know who's even more like that? People who do their own research. Seriously get professional help on a few things EACH MONTH and you can make some serious life progress. More on reddit.com