There is but one rule to not miserably fail at your 2025 goals in January.
I know about this rule because I’ve tried it and it has never failed me.
Is there an unwritten rule to succeed at your New Year resolutions?
I only know about one.
And it’s so simple, you might consider me a fool.
I am, no doubt there, yet you’re also a fool for not trying it.
No matter how foolish it may seem on the surface.
The Power Of Making It Real
So how do you make anything, be it a promise, a deal, a goal or anything else real?
How did people turn ideas into reality for hundreds or even thousands of years by now?
They wrote them down.
And this is what you need to do in order to feel like whatever it is that you need done is actually worth your time and effort. People write things down when they’re really important. From the contract for your rent to the vows at your wedding, and from your favourite lines of your preferred sitcom to the Bible, all valuable truth is written down.
You’d think that’s accidental, a mere regulatory element to an otherwise well-established way of living.
But think about it!
If you were to make a to-do list, even for what you have to do this week, how do you think you’d be more motivated to stick to it?
Option A: Type it in the Notes app on your phone.
Option B: Write it down on a piece of paper, with a pen.
Option A is fast and efficient but your phone is an overused object. You feel for it more than you sometimes feel for your spouse. That’s wrong, Felicia. But at the same time, you’re so used to it, you don’t really take it that seriously, do you? And maybe you run out of battery, or it gets stolen at the mall.
What then?
Option B takes a bit more time but it’s much more real, and in your face. You made the list, you wrote it down, you checked all of the boxes in front of those things you had to do and then successfully did. The satisfaction of checking something on a piece of paper is palpable. You feel the accomplishment.
It’s real!
Why The “Middle” Solution Fails
I guess a middle solution would be to get one of those fancy paperless tablets which only allow you to write on them, with a made-up pen that “sprays” fake ink on fake paper. I’ve seen those around a few times now, but:
1. I’m not going to spend 800 bucks on a tablet that won’t let me watch a movie the next time I’m flying to Italy with Wizz Air;
2. It’s not actually paper so, no matter how realistic it feels, why would I buy an expensive gadget if a $3 notebook does the same thing;
3. It has no colours!
Also, and I can’t stress this enough, writing your goals on paper, by hand, creates a subconscious connection between your mind and these resolutions.
It creates a bond, an Unbreakable Vow (yes, I’m 32 and I’m quoting Harry Potter, are you without quirks?!) that sticks for longer. At least for much longer than just voicing your goals, or quickly typing them down on your phone, or laptop.
My Fridge Goals For 2025
I have a few goals for 2025.
Be more daring.
Visit the Great Wall of China.
Eat more green things (not smoke them!)
Write the damn book!
Make money selling jams and other preservatives.
Spend more time with family.
Nurture and grow my handful (you don’t need more) of friendships.
Walk more.
And I did write them all down. Not just here but on a little piece of paper that’s now stuck on my fridge. I’m at the coffee place so no photo but it’s there. The great thing is that these goals are so doable, maybe apart from that China thing but that’s booked, I don’t need a check box by the end of them.
But when they’re done and done?
My God will I check the heck out of them!
