If you want to know how to have a better new year, I want to share the ONE exercise I use all the time.
I’ll also throw in a “BONUS” you can use to prioritize your day.
But we’ll get to that later.
Truth is, this ONE exercise has 4-simple questions. And they work ALL year.
It just happens this post is on the last day of the year. So it’s camouflaged as a “resolution” post.
But it’s not.
Because I don’t believe in resolutions.
We bail on them. Well, MOST of us do anyway.
In my mind, if you have to wait for the turn of the calendar, the clock, the month or whatever other timeline you choose to make a change in your life…
You ain’t ready my friend.
So what I’m about to share with you is a simple 4 step question exercise that I totally stole from Brendon Burchard.
I use it with my coaching clients from the moment we start working together.
It doesn’t matter if it’s January or July.
Here it is.
1. What do I need to START doing
2. What do I need to STOP doing
3. What do I need to do MORE of?
4. What do I need to do LESS of?
Simple right?
That’s how to have a better new year. Because simplicity works.
– If you want to stop smoking so you can live longer and see your children grow up.
– If you want to start working out so you can lose that belly fat and avoid a heart attack.
– If you want to do more advertising so you can get more customers, and make more money so you can invest in other assets to build a future nest egg or take an extra vacation
– If you want to work less hours so you can spend more quality time with your family
The list goes on and on.
We ALREADY KNOW how to answer those questions. So give it a shot and see what comes to mind.
Don't spend a day on this. In fact, you should be able to complete this in less than 30 minutes. Even that's too long.
Because whatever you can come up with in 2 days, you can come up with in 2 minutes.
Whatever comes immediately to mind is what really counts.
Now let’s drill this down to a daily priority so you have a better new year
Gary Keller says it best in The ONE Thing
Ask yourself, every day, “What is the ONE thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
The book is fantastic if you want to read it – but my job is to take away all the overwhelm.
So it basically boils down to knowing what you want (read: the first 4 questions) and then asking Gary’s question every day.
For example. If you’re stopping smoking, then your ONE thing today might be “throw away all your cigarettes.”
Tomorrow it could be “take a 5 minute walk around the block.”
And for the record, that ONE thing (in this example of walking around the block) could be repeated. Because it IS helping you make things better, isn’t it?
Perhaps next week that ONE thing amplifies to 2-5 minute walks around the block.
I’m sure you get where this is going.
My point is, you can begin to change your life for the better at ANY moment you choose just by asking those 4 questions – and then using the ONE thing question every day!