I stayed in on the last night of 2015 to plan for the start of 2016

I told my friends I wasn’t going out on New Years Eve and got a lot of questions about why, and what my goals are. So here’s a quick post to answer those questions. At the bottom is part of my actual plan for 2016. Shoot me a line at jake@eversoundhq.com to compare nerdy self-improvement notes.

New Years Eve in America seems to have become a time for reflection, renewal, and for the majority of the country (or world?), excessive intoxication and debauchery. Now, several years ago I was the first person ripping my shirt off and funneling 3 Keystone Lights at a time. But the last few years I’ve done something a little less fratty — relaxing with a few people I have a strong relationship with to plan for a great kickoff to the year.

I don’t do this to seem righteous or noble — and believe me, the FOMO is ridiculous. I usually stay in because I’m already partied out from the holidays. Because starting the new year off hung over really sucks. And because my mother always worries about her kids on NYE after her close friend lost her son a few years ago.

So over the last few weeks I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this year, keeping in mind the mistakes I’ve made over the last several years:

Making a huge list fails me. Some years I’ve made a list with 100+ goals and gotten so overwhelmed that I only hit 7 of them. Less is more for me. This year I only have two goals.
Being vague gives me more ways to justify not doing anything. Setting goals like “eat healthier” or “exercise more” don’t work for me because they aren’t specific enough.
Complicated goals tire me out. Similar to the above point, when a goal has a lot of steps and is complicated, I get tired of it quickly. I try to keep things simple and actionable or else they get lost in the noise.

So here’s part of what I came up with for 2016. I’m sharing in case it’s interesting for anyone, because I’m super cheesy, but also because it helps hold me accountable:

1. 80% success rate on my daily habits:

Morning: meditate at least 2 minutes
Morning: write top 1–5 priorities for the day
Morning: eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes (thanks Tim Ferriss)
During day: capture all actions in Asana
During day: exercise for at least 1 hour
During day: read for at least 20 minutes
End of day: update task list in Asana

2. Re-read, annotate and implement 10 learnings from 5 books:

Waking Up by Sam Harris
The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson
Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
Lean Branding by Laura Busche

I’ll also be keeping this plan as the only email in my inbox at the end of the day. That’s a great lesson I learned from a good friend Ali Hamed.

Cheers to 2016 y’all!