Happy New Year - to all.

My first post when starting this newsletter was about doing a “Mid-Year Review”, around July 2023.

I have not been as consistent as I’d like to be when researching and pushing out the associated content.

With that being said, the new year is a perfect mental marker to do a full reset.

Out with the old, in with the new, as they say.

Che’s take:

The concept of conquering all of your vices at once sounds fantastic.

However, it’s a perfect way to fail before you even start.

Small, incremental change, is what the mind thrives on.

You can trick yourself into being one disciplined mf’er, without having to swallow the macro pill of “this year I want to….”

After years of biting off more than I can chew, I will heed my advice.

My simple plan of attack:

I will be doing an average % score to track my progress, personally.

Make a list of the top 10 habits you would like to improve upon or integrate into a daily routine.

Hell, pick 20 if you’d like, but in terms of habit formation - less is more.

How many did you hit today? 7 out of 10? Okay, 70%

Tomorrow? 9 out of 10? 90%.

You may succeed with some habit(s) one day, and fail the next on the same one(s).

Average your % score for the entire month, if the number of tracked habits stayed constant, you should have a score for each month.

At the end of the year - average your monthly averages, and out spits your yearly % adherence to YOURSELF.

(The difference in days per month is fine, this isn’t really about the mathematical accuracy - unless you’d like to do some smoothing and break up the year into equally divided months by day, essentially creating your own calendar - this may have some mental benefit too, “This is my calendar, I don’t follow the laws of society, yadda, yadda”.)

I will be aiming for a yearly score of above 80%.

C’mon, you can all get a B-, right?

This method is very similar to a traditional grading system in school. For you quants out there - throw in some weighting to specific habits if you want to get crazzzzzyyyy.

Why do this?

There are a few reasons to track yourself this way, the main one being load reduction.

If you fail to hit the 80% mark on any given day, yeah it sucks, but you haven’t failed for the month - or the year.

Conversely, if you are hitting the daily targets - you can see momentum building day by painstaking day.

So, a week of being sick, a life emergency - or just life sucked out of you, shouldn’t break the bank.

You can always recover on the macro scale - the month, the quarter, or the year.

When in doubt, zoom out.

Many will stop following their goals altogether at the first sign of failure.

“Oh, I missed one day, or one week, there’s no way I’ll recover from this. It’s over.”

Eerily reminiscent of:

In addition, if you find yourself struggling to hit your target % each day, week, or month, then reduce the number of habits you are trying to take on.

And again, if you want to up the ante - increase the number to 20, God bless you.

This is the beauty of a simple method, cater this to you, YOU are all this was ever for anyway.

Habit formation is individualized to a degree, what works for you may not work for someone else.

For some, it may take a much more concerted effort for a smaller number of commitments, that’s just life.

This method should help you figure out your sweet spot.

This goes for the quantity and type of habit.

Just because Joe Schmo is doing and posting about it doesn’t mean you are ready to, or ever have to do that thing.

Waking at 5:00 AM daily may be great for some and allow them to do all they desire to accomplish each day.

For others, it might strip you of energy causing the opposite effect. You won’t be able to tackle any habit you have committed to.

Remember, if you are making these new year commitments to please someone else, or so that they’ll like you more, it will never work.

This is for you, nobody else.

Other things to pay attention to that may provide insight:

Holiday trends - Do you fall off every year during birthdays, Thanksgiving, or Christmas?

Seasonal (Weather) trends - Do you see a decline in % during the darker/colder months of the year? (if this applies to you)

Weekdays vs Weekends - Do you miss targets all week due to work (9-5)? All weekends due to socializing/partying?

Overall, optimize and simplify your tracking.

How you track yourself isn’t the main goal of the new year, but it could become a deal breaker if you move through life without intent.

Passively tracking will provide zero feedback on what you need to improve upon, or what you are knocking out of the park.

Utilize the insight gained to adjust and plan for the next week/month/year.

I won’t rant about specific habits to tackle - you see enough daily stoicism advice on CT. (Yes, I am an enjoyoooor of that stuff)

BUT, live in the present through 2024 and going forward.

Systemize the method of achieving the goals that matter to you, and with gratitude.

The slim chance that you, as an individual, are consciously existing is something that we cannot currently fathom.

Tens of thousands of (just human - many more for entirely of life itself) interactions had to occur for you to be here, now.

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.”

- Marcus Aurelius

(Oh shit, one managed to slip in)

Do not waste this mysterious ride through life looking backward.

By the time you turn your head around, it might be the last stop.