Why I Hate New Year’s Resolutions: A 2023 Challenge

“New year, new me!” Around this time of year, it’s common for people to set New Year’s Resolutions. They want to get in shape, or do better at work, or achieve some other vague goal. And most of the time, they don’t succeed. In fact, only 9% of people who set resolutions will see them through to the end of the year. I hate New Year’s Resolutions. Instead, I want to talk about how I took a different approach to my goals in 2022, and ended up running 1,000 miles.

My Favorite Self-Help Book

As a business owner, it’s natural that I’ve read hundreds of self-help books over the years. But there is no book that truly tackles the challenge of setting goals quite like The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks does. Hendricks touches on how when it comes to striving to be better versions of ourselves, we are our own worst enemy.

The Upper Limit Problem

In The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks says, “Each of us has an inner thermostat setting that determines how much love, success, and creativity we allow ourselves to enjoy. When we exceed our inner thermostat setting, we will often do something to sabotage ourselves, causing us to drop back into the old familiar zone where we feel secure.”

For those of us in sales, this inner thermostat setting can mean the difference between being the top salesperson or just being comfortable. Typically, I see this when someone hits their first $100,000 in income. Suddenly, they decide they aren’t good enough to hit $250,000.

This year, don’t tell yourself, “I don’t know if I can be a million-dollar guy.” Step out of your comfort zone and stop sabotaging yourself!

Do You Embrace Your Limitations?

In 2023, you need to embrace being uncomfortable. Gay touches on this as he discusses fighting against your limitations.

“In my life I’ve discovered that if I cling to the notion that something’s not possible, I’m arguing in favor of limitation. And if I argue for limitations, I get to keep them. Ultimately, we have to ask ourselves, ‘what is the payoff for arguing forcefully for our limitations?’”

All excuses do is sabotage our performance and confidence. Once you accept that you “aren’t good enough” to do something, you crush any chance you have of success.

Gay’s Big Questions

Listen, we all have challenges in our lives, and we all struggle with things on personal and professional levels. The secret to success is not being willing to let those struggles stop you from achieving the goals you have for yourself. In 2023, I challenge you to listen to Gay’s questions:

• “Am I willing to increase the amount of time every day I feel good inside?”
• ”Am I willing to increase the amount of time that my whole life goes well?”
• “Am I willing to feel good and have my life go well all the time?”

Breaking My Own Upper Limit in 2022

I’ve been a runner for years now. And while I enjoy getting outside and hitting the pavement, I’ve never been what you’d consider to be a serious runner. In 2022, I decided, without much thought, that I was going to run 1,000 miles. My previous year best was 820 miles in 2021, and I wanted to beat it. I put the goal out there and told everyone I knew on social media.

In January, I crunched the numbers and thought the goal seemed easy. But you know what happened? Life happened. I got sick. I had to travel. Many things occurred that made me wonder if 1,000 miles was going to happen. And while I’m no stranger to failing fitness goals, I didn’t want to let these minor things sabotage my year. I had to change how I approached my goal, but I never dreamed of changing the goal itself. After pushing limits I never thought about before, I finally hit 1,000 miles – on December 31^st, 2022.

My 2023 Challenge to You

Whether it’s sales, business, or life, a year is a long amount of time, and it goes by quickly. What are you going to accomplish this year? Instead of setting a wishy-washy resolution, write down what you want your life to look like in 12 months. And then share that vision in detail with a family member, friend, or on social media. And here’s the challenge: drop the excuses, get out there, and achieve it.