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warikoo Wanderings

This year, don't set resolutions. Instead...

Published about 2 years ago • 4 min read

warikoo Wanderings

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DON'T SET RESOLUTIONS


The new year is upon us.
And with it, new year resolutions.
Promises that we make to ourselves, so that we can break them within 15 days.
Ok sorry, not 15 days.
5 days!

Ever wondered why we set resolutions?
Because they make us feel good.
When we have to promise something we will do in the future, it does two things:
1. It doesn't cost any effort.
2. It gives us hope.

It is the same emotion we feel when we tell ourselves, "Everything will be ok."
It doesn't cost anything. But it surely makes us feel good. Because it gives us hope.

The other day I got an email.
It said (in summary) - "my mind sabotages me by repeatedly thinking that it’s too late, I can’t do it now."
I asked, "What are you most worried about?"
"That I will keep repeating my patterns and won’t put in the work required!"
AW: "And what can you do to break that pattern?"
"Study and not overthink."
AW: "And do you think you can do that?"
"I’ve been trying for one year and got no real progress…"

You see what happened there?
When the person said, "I am going to study and not overthink" it did not cost any effort. And it gave a sense of hope.
But - that was false!
Because they had been doing it already for a year and nothing had worked.
So why would it, now?

This year, when you (yet again) begin to fall towards the temptation of resolutions, step back and ask yourself this question:
"What gives me the confidence that I will hold on to this resolution this year?"
The answer, for many of us, will be - nothing.
Nothing will suggest that this year will be any different from all the years gone by.

The solution?
Don't set resolutions, or goals, or targets.
Take the smallest step possible - to set habits.

The thing about habits is that our body and mind loves them.
Once something becomes a habit, we dispense the least amount of energy to do the task.
It happens by itself.
Like breathing, brushing our teeth (hopefully), or even spending endless hours on YT or IG!

Habits are our only escape.
And until we do not shift our life towards forming habits, all that we will keep doing is setting targets with no basis.

Last week, a lot of people asked me, "How was the experience of writing your first book?"
And I said - I didn't set out to write a book.
I just created content, every single day!
At the end of the year, I had not just one, rather several books.

May 2022 be the same for you.
Where you do whatever you should be doing everyday, and thus get what you have deserved all along.

Cheers to a wonderful 2022 :)

DOING SOMETHING THIS NEW YEAR'S EVE?


IF you have bought my first book "DO EPIC SHIT"
AND
Have nothing to do on Dec 31st,

Then join me for a 2-hour live session. Expect a lot of poor jokes, your questions answered, me bringing people randomly to join me live - and just a lot of fun with no agenda :)
My kind of New year's Eve!

Fill up this form, if interested (Open only for those who have bought the book.)

BOOK I AM READING


This week I am reading:
Twelve and a Half: Leveraging the Emotional Ingredients Necessary for Business Success by Gary Vaynerchuk,
Gary is an entrepreneur and content creator, and has been for long an inspiration. He is bold, authentic and understands empathetic leadership like few people do.
While he comes across as an alpha male, this book brings out his vulnerable side. Something he has spoken about a lot, but not articulated as effectively as he has, in this book.

An absolute must for every leader or aspiring leaders out there.

QUOTES TO SHARE


Your feedback should help people win. Else it is just criticism.
(Share on Twitter)

Our problems are the stories we tell ourselves of how everything will be fine once we get what we want.
(Share on Twitter)

We don’t have to agree with each other as long as we understand each other.
(Share on Twitter)

RESPONSES TO LAST WEEK'S QUESTION


Last week I asked you:

How was 2021 for you?

  1. Better than 2020
  2. Worse than 2020
  3. Same as 2020

Here are the responses:

I frankly did not expect such a correlation - where the younger folks seemed to have a worse year than older ones. And the trend was consistent as age increased.

Here is my prediction:
1. There were a LOT of people who were affected by the second wave, and that clearly did not have any age bias.
2. Beyond that, younger folks were caught in online classes for the second consecutive year. And those can be quite frustrating. Older folks also had remote working, but that is more forgiving than online school/college.
3. Staying indoors with family (for younger people) is always harder than staying indoors by yourself.

Any explanation you have for this result?

PICTURE OF THE WEEK


Wish you all a wonderful 2022 :)))

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION


How do you think 2022 is going to be for you?

  1. Better than 2021
  2. Worse than 2021
  3. Same as 2021

​Click here to let me know your answer (anonymously)​​​​

CONTENT I SHARED THIS WEEK


Podcast:
Title of episode: Consequences
Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, JioSaavn or Gaana.

YouTube:
Title of video: How much money I made in 2021
You can watch it here.

Instagram:
Title of video: Lesson I learnt from my father
You can watch it here.

You can, of course, always write to me by simply replying to this newsletter.

I love reading all your emails, even though I may not be able to reply to them all.
Yes! I READ ALL MY EMAILS. ALL OF THEM.
​​(2022 mein FINALLY weight lose karne ki kasam!)

warikoo Wanderings

by Ankur Warikoo

Entrepreneur, Author, Content Creator with 9M+ followers across platforms. I share this newsletter every Friday around personal growth, books, quotes, pictures - it is the most personal version of me online.

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