An Approach to Your Goals in the New Year

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I saw this the other day…

I’m sure there’s no scientific studies backing up this fact, but it’s just kind of logical.

Here’s how I would utilize this concept. I would identify three areas I want to make progress in next year. Let’s say:

  1. Writing a mystery book.

  2. Learning bass guitar

  3. Mastering a bottom deal (because I mistakenly think there’s some value in this skill).

And I would identify a daily task for each area that I can accomplish in about 20 minutes:

  1. In 20 minutes, I can write a hastily written, unedited page of my book.

  2. In 20 minutes, I can get in one lesson on my bass guitar learning app.

  3. And in 20 minutes I can do a few hundred bottom deals.

If I’m consistent with these daily tasks, I will undoubtedly have made a lot of progress on all of these long-term goals. I will have at least a rough draft of a book, 365 bass lessons completed, and probably a pretty passable bottom deal.

Then I would recommend lumping these daily goals together where you create one daily “power hour” to work on these things.

I don’t know if this is counterintuitive or not, but I’ve found it easier to block out one larger period of time than three smaller ones. Even if they add up to the same amount of time. You might think it would be easier to find smaller gaps in your schedule to fill, but—for me, at least—it doesn’t work out that way. It’s just easier to prioritize one block of time, even if it’s longer. And you only have to get motivated to do it once per day, instead of three times.

You might say, “There’s no way I can find a free hour per day! I’m too busy!” Okay, well, tough luck I guess. Obviously, I’m not telling you to set an hour aside each day to work on some goals or projects if you literally don’t have an hour to do so. (But I bet you do.)

I’m just recommending consolidating your self-improvement or project time into one block. Even if the goals are unrelated. I find this helps you commit to all three and not let one or two drift away.

And setting a few goals to focus on for a year is a fun way to give the year structure and make it more memorable. “Ah 2025, that was the year I learned bass guitar, perfected a bottom deal, and wrote Joshua Jay, Boy Detective.”