It’s a few days until a new year (again). You know what that means. You’ve got your list ready:

• Lose weight.
• Build that side project.
• Read more books.
• Wake up at 5 AM.
• Learn that new framework.

You also know something else. By February, maybe March if you’re particularly stubborn, most of these resolutions will be gathering dust alongside last year’s abandoned goals.

The gym membership you swore you’d use three times a week? Forgotten. That course you bought on New Year’s Day? Still sitting at 12% completion.

The brutal truth? New Year’s resolutions don’t work.

Why Resolutions Feel Good (But Fail)

As Alex Hormozi puts it:

The goal is not to be perfect. The goal is to be progressing.

But resolutions trick us into thinking the declaration itself equals progress. You tell everyone about your ambitious plans, you feel good about having plans, and your brain rewards you with a dopamine hit for simply having the intention.

Robert Greene warns about this in The 33 Strategies of War:

Do not fight the last war.

Yet every January 1st, we fight the same losing battle, using the same failed strategy of grand proclamations and zero execution.

As Naval Ravikant puts it:

Intentions don’t matter. Actions do.

Science backs this up too: When you talk about your goals, your brain experiences a premature sense of completeness. The satisfaction from telling people you’re going to do something reduces the motivation to actually do it (For more on why this happens, check out Shut Up and Act.)

The January 1st Illusion

There’s nothing magical about January 1st. It’s an arbitrary date on a human-made calendar. The earth doesn’t reset. Your metabolism doesn’t reboot. Your discipline doesn’t suddenly triple because you stayed up past midnight.

DHH frames this perfectly in his approach to work:

I can’t plan what’s going to happen tomorrow, so why would I pretend I can plan what’s going to happen in a year?

The resolution mindset assumes you can predict your future self’s motivation, circumstances, and priorities. You can’t.

The calendar doesn’t care about your goals. The universe isn’t waiting for permission to move forward. Every sunrise is a new beginning if you choose to see it that way.

What Actually Moves the Needle

Forget resolutions. If you want real change, focus on what actually moves the needle:

• Small, repeatable actions you can do today.
• Systems that make progress inevitable, not optional.
• Habits so simple you can’t help but succeed.

Resolutions are about someday. Progress is about now.

Seize the Day, Every Day

Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas. Carpe diem; quam minimum credula postero.

Or in plain English:

While we speak, envious time has fled. Seize the day; put in as little trust as you can in the future.

This isn’t just a motivational poster, it’s ancient, actionable wisdom. The only moment you control is now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Today.

Ryan Holiday (channeling Marcus Aurelius) says it best:

The obstacle is the way.

You don’t need a perfect plan or ideal timing. Progress happens when you take the next small step, especially when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable.

Don’t wait for the stars to align. Show up, face what’s in front of you, and move forward—one action at a time.

Consistency > Motivation

James Clear nailed it:

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Stop setting goals. Build systems.

Want to write more? Write 250 words every morning before you check your phone.

Want to code better? Solve one coding problem daily no matter how small.

Want to get fit? Do 20 pushups when you wake up.

The real transformation happens not in sweeping declarations, but in the quiet, consistent actions you repeat every day.

Micro-Habits Over Macro-Declarations

• Don’t say: “I’ll read 52 books this year”

• Do this: Read 10 pages before bed. Every night.

• Don’t say: “I’ll build a SaaS product”

• Do this: Write one function. Commit one change. Ship one feature.

• Don’t say: “I’ll learn Spanish”

• Do this: Listen to a short podcast or read a few sentences in Spanish each day.

The compound effect of tiny daily actions destroys the initial burst of motivation from resolutions.

Forget All-or-Nothing Thinking

You missed a day? So what. Start again tomorrow. The resolution mindset creates a fragile system where one missed gym session means you’ve “failed” and might as well quit.

Real progress is messy. It’s two steps forward, one step back. It’s showing up on the days you don’t feel like it and doing a worse version of your best work. That still counts. That’s actually where the growth happens.

Start Today, Not Someday

Here’s what I want you to understand: you don’t need permission from a calendar to change. You don’t need a clean slate or a fresh start or a new year.

You need to stop talking about what you’re going to do and shut up and act.

Take the thing you were planning to start on January 1st. The goal you were going to announce to your friends and family. The resolution you were going to write down in your new journal.

Do it today. Not the whole thing. Just the first small step.

Because the people who actually accomplish things. They don’t wait for January. They don’t make resolutions. They just start. And then they keep going.

Every single day.

That’s it. That’s the secret. There is no other way.