Achieving New Year's Resolutions Like Sisyphus
The new year is here. It's time for, you guessed it, New Year's resolutions.
Do you know whom I am jealous of when it comes to achieving New Year's resolutions goals? You will have never guessed it: Sisyphus.
Yes. The guy in Greek mythology who made Zeus so mad by cheating death twice, so Zeus condemned him to eternally push a giant rock uphill. Right before the rock gets to the top, it rolls back down to the bottom, forcing him to do it all over again. The process would go on forever.
This guy rocks, in more ways than one!
Yeah, that's the guy.
You might ask why I am jealous of that pathetic loser? Well. Sisyphus' situation might be tragic and miserable, but he isn't a loser at all. And when it comes to achieving goals, he's way more successful than my past New Year's resolutions.
1. Sisyphus must be in incredible shape. People think CrossFit is hardcore physical training. Try pushing a rock forever and ever. Over the years, his body must look like the combination of the Incredible Hulk and LeBron James. I can only dream of achieving that type of fitness through any New Year's resolutions.
2. He's very consistent and successful in his goals. He pushes the rock to below the peak every time and fails only at the last second. In New Year's resolutions terms, Sisyphus always fails on December 31st.
My resolutions usually fall apart long before that… somewhere near January 10th. After that, the only purpose of my New Year's resolutions was to remind me of my futility.
All that's to say: I was bad at this New Year's resolutions thing. I was like the Lazy Sisyphus. I could only wish I was half as successful and consistent as the real one.
This is what most New Year's resolutions look like in February
Now, maybe being jealous of an imaginary figure cursed for eternity isn't your cup of tea. But I bet you aren't great at this New Year's resolutions thing either.
In the United States, where I live, 41% of people regularly make New Year's resolutions. But of all the New Year resoluters… Resolutionalist? Only 9% keep them. You are more likely to have diabetes than achieve your New Year's Resolutions.
Now, all that changed two years ago when I accidentally discovered a way to stick to my goals far longer than I could have ever done in the past. In fact, my resolutions lasted six months.
Now, before you accuse me of still being a failure, let me just say: it's a giant step in the right direction. For someone who usually quits in January, June was a 500% improvement. No matter what you do in life, whether buying stocks or hair restoration, you take +500% all day, every day.
It's like my Lazy Sisyphus took a steroid/Red Bull/Adderall combo. Instead of tossing the rock away at base camp, murmuring, "fuck this shit," he actually pushes it halfway.
As a result, I had one of my most productive years: having the best year in business, starting two new blogs, quitting a few bad habits, getting my mental health back on track, and rehabbing a back injury to basketball shapes.
How did I do it?
It was simple. Instead of setting New Year's resolutions to be outcome goals: like making more money, landing a better job, getting promoted, losing weight, finding love, or going viral on TikTok, I set input goals: actions I could take and track every day.
My resolutions for that year were:
Writing for 1,000 hours
Getting up early for 200 (out of 365) days
Setting daily goals for 200 (out of 365) days
Charging my phone outside of the bedroom for 300 nights
Listening to audiobooks for 300 hours
Having conversations with admired people 200 times
Exercise for 100 hours
Spending 500 hours of meaningful time with my kids
Spending 100 hours of meaningful time with my parents
Not losing my temper for 300 days
For me, these input goals were much simpler to control, measure and achieve. I used a spreadsheet to track them every day, and received tons of pleasure every day when I put down progress numbers next to these categories.
As I mentioned, this lasted until June (again, astronomical improvement) instead of December. Why? Simple: I got bored. It's tough to set goals for the whole year. They started to lose pizzazz after a while.
Good resolutions changes things up to keep it fresh
So, to make it work this year, I am changing things up: instead of setting 10 goals for the whole year, I am setting 3 input goals every month.
For January, I am going to:
Write (or any creative work) for 90 hours
Get up by 6AM for 25 days
Set 3 daily goals for 25 days
Here is my spreadsheet to track my progress.
It's like my personal Sisyphus is setting up 12 stops along the mountain, and he's planning to get to one stop at a time. This way, it won't be an all-or-nothing venture.
Take that, Zeus, you vengeful, jealous, incestuous pervert!
Moreover, I am not only doing this, but also got 77 readers of mine to do it together. I am calling it the Sisyphi Camp. We can become a bunch of Sisyphi (that’s the plural form of Sisyphus, right?… Right?) and collectively kick Zeus' butt by pushing the rock to the peak together.
Check out the Sisyphi Camp!