#46 Resolutions

I'm not a fan of "goal setting season"

Nov 28, 2023

You know you’re onto something good when you can’t sleep because you’re itching to get back to it.

I was up around four this morning putting the final touches on the December Letter. I must not be the only one excited about this Issue because not long after firing it up I saw a tiny Lukas head pop up in the upper right corner.

The way we collaborate on and write the Letter is unique:

We have an ongoing, running document of all the stuff we want to touch on, the stuff we think will be the most impactful, powerful, or important.
Lukas writes the core of the Letter
I text him asking if he is spying on me because he is writing about something that I have been deep in thought about.
I add my own thoughts before and/or after Lukas’ main section (which is the section that is written well lol)
Upon review, almost nothing from our list of stuff we want to write about has made it to the Letter.

This morning I read Lukas opening. The third paragraph:

As you can tell, I’m skeptical of the energy and aspirations we purport during this time of year. And the data backs me up; with 93% of resolutions failing by February, and Q1 is typically 30-50% less productive than Q4.

He read my mind again.

I’m not a fan of New Years Resolutions. Not at all.

From the forthcoming December Letter:

Full disclosure: I don’t set New Year’s Resolutions.

Most of them are arbitrary goals on arbitrary timelines, which is a great way to turn yourself into a ticking time bomb. I do, however, strategically modify my own behavior in order to increase the probability of favorable things happening to me using a five-step behavior modification process.

My brain maps everything to familiar shapes and frameworks, so this process is mapped to Maslow’s Hierarchy. Like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the requirements of the lower level must be met before focusing on the level above it.

For example, one cannot achieve safety (personal security, income and resources) if one does not have access to food, water and air. That makes food, water and air, the physiological needs, by far the most important thing to focus on achieving. Because if you can’t meet those basic needs… nothing else matters.

The pyramid structure implies a few things:

The lower level tiers have a higher surface area because the returns are far greater. You can live without being self-acualized, you cannot live without water and air. In other words, the returns diminish as you climb tiers. This is super important to understand when setting goals. Highlight that, I’ll tie it all together shortly.
The lower the tier, the more of the foundation it makes up, making it more important to the entire structure. Skipping steps is like trying to build the tallest skyscraper possible, starting at the top without a foundation. (It’s probably not gonna work out the way you want)

Read through the section above a few times, I’m cramming a lot into the next few pages, this is a great place to slow down and review before forging forward.

In the pages following that intro, I break down my own version of a behavior modification pyramid mapped to Maslow’s Hierarchy. If you want a general overview of how it works, I have good news…

I dug up this old video from Nicsmas 2020 that breaks it down:

It’s been modified and reinvented a few times since, but the general principle remains the same:

Identify the most basic modification/change
Focus on only that thing until you can do it sustainably
Identify the next most basic modification or change
Focus on only that thing until you can do it sustainably
Rinse and repeat

Each new step will be little more complicated than the previous step and the returns will be slightly diminished. Diminished returns are still returns, so unless you experience each step/iteration you will never be able to find the sweet spot for you; the spot where the juice is worth the squeeze.

I can’t tell you where that sweet spot is for you. But I can tell you that an overly rigid and arbitrary plan starting on a completely arbitrary date (like Jan. 1) is likely going to prevent you from discovering it.

Update for Nicsmas 2023: An excerpt from the December Letter: