"My First Post of 2023"

If you’ve picked up your phone in the last day, you have likely seen tons of posts, tweets, captions etc. resembling something like the title of this post. My wife and I have been finding it funny, showing each other posts with people participating in this trend; some of them quite funny and others whom are taking it to the extreme of prepending just about every daily task they do with: My first { thing } of 2023… It got me wondering, though, is there and real merit to this way of thinking?

New Year New Me

We all know that a new year can bring with it the sense of a clean slate — you didn’t accomplish your goal of drinking 2L of water a day? No sweat, lets renew that goal for 2023. Oh, you wanted to save more money and eat less takeout? That’s alright, we can start again now. Didn’t meet your goal of one PR a week to an open source project… You get the idea.

Thinking in this way allows us to just keep repeating previous goals indefinitely. Speaking from experience, if my current self sets a goal for my future self that goal is less likely to be accomplished. I am sure most people can relate to the idea of telling yourself that “I’m going to start working out tomorrow” and then when tomorrow comes you just say the same thing. I know I’ve done this countless times before.

What’s a goal really?

A goal is an objective that you wish to achieve that is specific and measurable. You can gauge your progress with respect to it. Three things make up a goal: what it is, why it is important, and how much time or work will be needed to achieve it.

Some of the factors that go in to making a goal are the exact reason goals get deprioritized in our minds. What if I don’t know how long it will take? What if the what and why change over time? All of that can lead us to forget about the goal entirely.

So how can we set “goals” then?

Don’t.

Yup, you read that right.

What if instead of setting traditional goals, you created processes?

Lets take the previous example of working out "tomorrow". Instead of thinking that you have to exercise in the morning, try creating a process that reduces your resistance to that activity. Prepare your workout clothes the night before. Place a bottle of water on the counter. If you use Peloton, schedule your ride/workout the night before so you don't have to choose one in the morning. The process of doing all of this can still lead you to the same end result, but it can often get you there faster.

Thoughts

Obviously this is just my opinion, and there is never a one-sized-fits-all solution to this kinda thing. This approach tends to work well for me and my brain; In the end though, it’s all about coming up with a solution that works for YOU. My suggestion is that you try a bunch of different methods and see which ones stick; and don’t worry if something used to work and doesn’t anymore — people change. You may need to adjust your methods as you grow. Just have fun with it!

How to get it touch?

DM me @pjkellar on Twitter or email me

Patrick ✌️