How to Actually Stick to Your Resolutions This Year

Summary

This video discusses the common pitfalls of New Year's resolutions and offers practical advice to make them stick. It emphasizes starting early, setting short-term goals, prioritizing health, and tracking progress. The video also highlights Notion as a productivity tool with customizable templates, especially beneficial for students and educators with its free personal plan.

Takeaways

• 🎥 The video is sponsored by Notion, offering a free personal plan for students and teachers with a school email address.
• 🔄 New Year's resolutions often fail because people believe they can change their lives by changing their environment, but they carry their problems with them wherever they go.
• 🏠 The saying 'Wherever you go, there you are' highlights that you can't escape your own habits and shortcomings.
• 📅 The new year isn't a magical solution to problems; it's just a date, and external changes won't fix internal issues.
• 🚫 Believing the next year will be different is similar to thinking you'll be more productive next week, often based on unrealistic expectations.
• 🌟 The new year holds psychological significance, providing a temporary motivational boost that should be used wisely.
• 🔥 Use the new year's motivation to start building long-term habits rather than starting something you won't stick to.
• 🏋️ Start working on your goals now, even if it's in a compromised way, to avoid relying on the new year's day to begin.
• 📝 Set resolutions on a weekly time scale instead of yearly to make them more manageable and realistic.
• 💪 Prioritize health habits as they are foundational to achieving other goals and maintaining progress.
• 📊 Track your progress, including failures, to learn from setbacks and avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Q & A

What is the main reason the speaker suggests New Year's resolutions tend to fail after a short period?

The speaker suggests that New Year's resolutions tend to fail because people often believe they can change their lives by changing their environment or circumstances, but they can't run away from their own shortcomings, bad habits, or tendencies.

What is the meaning of the adage 'Wherever you go, there you are' in the context of the video?

The adage implies that no matter where you go or what changes you make in your life, if you don't address your own personal issues, they will still be with you.

Why does the speaker compare the belief in the new year's transformative power to believing in a more efficient next week?

The speaker compares these beliefs because both involve the assumption that the future version of oneself will have more time, energy, and motivation without concrete plans or changes to achieve that.

What does the speaker mean by 'the new year holds a certain psychological significance'?

The speaker is referring to the emotional and motivational boost that people often feel at the start of a new year, which is seen as a fresh start and an opportunity for change, even though it is just an arbitrary date.

What is the speaker's advice for using the motivational boost provided by the new year?

The speaker advises using the motivational boost to start building long-term habits rather than starting something that one won't stick to, acknowledging that the boost is temporary.

What is the first piece of advice the speaker gives for setting New Year's resolutions?

The first piece of advice is to get started now, even before the new year begins, using the current anticipation and available time and resources.

What is the recommended time scale for setting New Year's resolutions according to the speaker?

The speaker recommends setting resolutions on a week time scale instead of a year time scale, starting small and proving to oneself that they can stick to the resolution.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of not making career goals more ambitious if one's health habits are currently broken?

The speaker emphasizes this because optimal progress in any area requires a body and brain in full working order, and health should be the first thing to focus on if it's not where it should be.

What is the role of tracking progress, including failures, in the process of sticking to New Year's resolutions?

Tracking progress, including failures, helps in analyzing what went wrong and avoiding the same failure triggers in the future, which is crucial for building and maintaining habits.

How does the speaker describe the Notion app and its benefits for productivity?

The speaker describes Notion as a productivity app with a flexible set of tools for tasks like note-taking, task management, creating templates, and managing databases, all in a unified platform.

What is the special offer for students and educators mentioned in the video regarding Notion?

The special offer is that Notion's personal plan is completely free for students and educators, which can be accessed by signing up with a school email address.