Happy New Year. Today.

Jerry Seinfeld had this joke that he would say about the battle between night guy and day guy. The premise of the joke is that while day guy wants to be productive, night guy has no regard whatsoever for day guy and so night guy stays up late causing day guy to not be at his best.

Often we are so consumed by what's going on in the moment that we don't look to put ourselves in the best position for the future. Well, we may have the best intentions of what we want to accomplish later on, much like morning guy, night guy just doesn't help us. Therefore the question today is: is what I'm doing currently working?

As the new year approaches, are there any systems, rules, procedures, etc. that are no longer working? If there are any methods that we've been using, which have not been productive, there's no reason to carry them over to the new year. Also, there would be no reason to wait for later to make the changes we can start now.

Often we push things off to the first of the new year, it's as if we give ourselves a license to procrastinate on what we want to address and need to address. The best method that I've seen in my life is addressing what I want to accomplish next year, today. In other words, at nighttime guy has to be confronted in order to help the morning guy be productive.

But this is the daily struggle, how do we get night time guy to help morning guy? How do we get from where we currently are or to where we want to be in a successful manner?

The first thing you have to do is ask yourself the question: Do you need to shift and change how things are working?

If the answer is yes, there's no need to wait for a new year. Oftentimes we wait for the start of the New year, putting ourselves behind the barrel. If we begin to implement the strategies that we want to employ for the new year, today - we put ourselves in a better position of creating healthier habits. So if a shift needs to happen, let it happen now!

The next step is to write down your strategies. Don't just write down your strategies on a piece of paper and tuck it in a notebook and put it somewhere on your bookshelf, this strategy won't work! You have to write it down and put it in the visible place otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.

I'm a very visual person, so I need to see what I'm going to be doing. I've gone ahead and synchronized all my calendars but I also sit down and write out what the plan is step-by-step. I also try to take into consideration difficulties I may encounter such as schedule adjustments and any other engagement that may pop out of the blue. Well, I am not a Nostradamus. But I am a father and as such I know that there are times when duty calls. So I try to set my schedule in a way that after they've gone to bed, I can get to work.

By starting with the implementation of your new goals now, you'll be able to get ahead on any unforeseen difficulties and therefore increase the probability of success. Waiting until January 1st to start your New year's resolution, is like night time Jerry staying up late even though daytime Jerry has a lot of plans. If you start now you will encounter the difficulty that may come with life, but you also allow yourself a grace period where you can restart and conquer.

The objective here is to complete your mission. That at the end of the year you find yourself bringing to life the vision of where you want to be and who you want to be. Why not put yourself in the best position to succeed? To do so, you would have to start now. 

instead of waiting for the ball to drop after that countdown and the confetti to touch the ground, why don't you put your foot down and decide to start now? Ask yourself the question: Is what I'm currently doing working? No? Then let's get to work.