How To Change Your Life In 2024

“New year, new me!!!!”

“Oh boy! I can’t wait to finally put in the work next year!”

“Next year, I’m really gonna eat!!!”

Right… Didn’t you say that last year?

Everyone says the same thing every year.

But nothing ever changes.

It’s the time of year that most of us get that peak of motivation and start contemplating how we’re going to become the best version of ourselves going into the new year.

I’m sure throughout your life, you’ve led up to the 1st of January saying to yourself that you’re going to make multiple different changes, from going to the gym every day to starting a new habit like reading or eating less shit. But how many of those have come to fruition? I’m going to take a guess and say not many, if any at all.

But is 2024 going to be your year, or is it going to be the same as every other year where you lie to yourself because you can’t bring yourself enough discipline to stick to your word?

On average, only 9–12% of people keep their New Year’s resolutions, so how can you be a part of that 9–12%?

Here are a few tips that helped me narrow down my options and choose resolutions that correlated with my goals but, most importantly, were achievable and easy to stay consistent with:

1. Reflect on the past year: Take some time to think about what has and hasn't worked for you in the past year. What areas of your life do you feel like you've made progress in, and what areas do you feel like you've been struggling in and could improve?

2. Identify your goals: You may want to be disciplined, but without a reason to be disciplined, you’re never going to be disciplined. You’re never going to be disciplined for the sake of being disciplined due to the amount of mental strength and pain it takes to become disciplined from close to zero. Have a clear reason why you’re doing what you’re doing.

3. Make a plan: It's one thing to set a resolution, but it's another to follow through on it. Make a plan on how you will achieve your resolution and include small, achievable steps along the way.

4. Start small: Don't try to tackle too much at once. You need to build the act of turning up before you start setting currently unachievable disciplines, such as reading for 75 minutes a day. Build the habit of turning up and just reading one page. Once you’ve got yourself over the barrier of resistance to reading, it’ll be easy for you to read 2 or even more pages. Think about homework, work, or something similar. Once you start working on the task, you realise it’s not as bad as your mind made it out to be in advance. You just have to bring yourself to do the task. So make that as easy as you can, and you’ll start building new habits with ease.

5. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals: It's important to set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This will help you stay on track and make progress towards your resolutions. For example, instead of resolving to "read more," try setting a specific goal like "read for at least 30 minutes three times a week and at least a page a day." - This will also help build the habit of showing up.

6. Don’t go from 0 to 100 instantly: Don't try to tackle too much at once. Choose a few resolutions that are important to you, and start with a minimal change. For example, if your goal is to eat healthier, try incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet before you cut out all junk food; otherwise, there’s a very high likelihood that you’ll relapse.

7. Be realistic: Don't set yourself up for failure by choosing too difficult or unrealistic resolutions. It's okay to challenge yourself, but make sure your resolutions are something you can realistically achieve.

8. Keep an open mind: Be open to adjusting your resolutions as you go along. It's okay to change your mind or pivot to a different goal if something isn't working for you. The most important thing is to stay committed and keep making progress towards your goals.

9. Live in the Present: This, in my opinion, is the most neglected stage of New Year’s resolutions. People will slip up for a day and throw all of their resolutions into the bin. Everyone’s human, and you need to expect that you’ll have days that may not be as ‘productive as others’, but don’t allow yourself to use that as an excuse to throw all of your resolutions away. Understand that some days won’t be perfect, live in the present, and do what you can then and there. The future is something you can’t touch, nor is the past. All you can mitigate and make a decision on is the present, so realise that you fu*ked up, make a change, and do something about it; don’t fall back into your old habits and do what most do, awaiting another new year to make a change.

Deciding on your New Year's resolutions can be overwhelming, but with the usually neglected use of both reflection and planning, you can choose resolutions that are both meaningful and achievable. So take some time to think about what you want to accomplish in the new year and start working towards a brighter future, making 2024 your year, day by day.

Here’s a quote I found by the Stoic philosopher Seneca:

“The one thing fools all have in common is that they are always getting ready to live. But they never do it.”

Are you going to be a ‘fool’ and let this be you, or are you going to grab life by the horns and endure the pain that comes with doing the things you don’t necessarily want to do but know you have to in order to get to where you want to be?

If success was easy, everyone would be successful.

What gives it value is the fact that it is hard.

Embrace the fact that it’s difficult, and know that you’re doing what most can’t bring themselves to do and that you’re already ahead even if your ‘success’ hasn’t come to fruition yet.

Finally, on another note, I just want to say a massive thank you to all of those who have shown support on the YouTube channel recently. I never really intended to grow my brand much by doing what I’m doing, but I use it more as a means to hold myself accountable publicly. The support you’ve all shown has been incredible, as has the fact that so many of you have resonated with me on so many levels, which is brilliant to see.

However, not only have you shown support on YouTube, but now you’re also subscribed to the newsletter, for which I truly can’t tell you how thankful I am.

I also want to briefly mention that you can now expect weekly newsletters every Wednesday from today forward, so stay tuned!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and have a very happy new year.

Don’t make 2024 another 2023. Make the change you’ve always promised yourself and your family.

I appreciate you all.

See you next week,

Oli